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This site is published by Plastics News, Crain Communications' international newspaper for the plastics industry.
  
Opinion
Opinion: Rivalry growing among Asian trade shows

Toloken
Plastics News Asia bureau chief Steve Toloken recently returned home to Guangzhou from Japan after attending the first-ever pre-show event for the International Plastic Fair. The gathering was arranged for trade press based outside of Japan in an attempt by organizers to attract an international crowd to its November show in Tokyo. The fair is billed as the place where technology-oriented Japanese firms unveil their latest innovations. Toloken says he saw some of that technology, but he was also aware of “the large shadow that China cast in the room.”

Opinion: New manufacturing faces emerge in China

Toloken
A media day at Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. in Shenzhen inspired Plastics News Asia bureau chief Steve Toloken to take a look at one of China’s more sophisticated brand owners and contract manufacturers and contrast it with the country’s sweatshop image. Huawei has 12 research and development centers in China and around the world, and it has jointly established research and product development centers with Vodafone, British Telecom, Spanish Telecom, Motorola and others. And Huawei has an advantage, it says.

Opinion: Design center gala full of surprises

Grace
Plastics News editor Robert Grace recently returned from a trip to China where he was a part of the opening ceremonies of the International Design Center, a joint-venture undertaking between Hong Kong Polytechnic University’s School of Design and Zhejiang University. The joint venture has been a year in the making, and the Zhenhai district government of Ningbo city is offering strong support to help get it kick-started. The aim is to stimulate industrial design and product research and development. Grace shares his observation and experiences of the celebration through the eyes of a Westerner.

Opinion: Lessons learned from Chinese firm’s success


Sun
The 15-year journey that injection molder Lisi Group Co. Ltd.’s founder, Li Lixin, spent exploring the U.S. housewares market sheds light on how a typical Chinese exporter started from scratch and secured a foothold in global trade. Using Lisi’s story, Plastics News staff reporter and Asia specialist Nina Ying Sun analyzes business possibilities inside and outside of China. For instance, for foreign firms wanting to land sales in China, she “reverse-engineers” Lisi’s success story for some business possibilities; for Chinese firms, she warns that remaining stagnant will not promote economic growth in the ever-changing business world, and that moving up the value chain is vital. To see Sun’s full analysis, check out the full story.

Opinion: China’s new era looming

Sun
Anyone can read today’s stocks charts, but only real pros can accurately predict tomorrow’s. They are the ones who make money, regardless of the market’s ups and downs. The same concept applies to doing business with and in China, Nina Ying Sun, Plastics News’ Asia specialist and staff reporter says in her latest opinion column. Some point out that China’s economic growth is slowing down. But, Sun says, step back and get a feel for the whole picture, one of neck-breaking changes, more intense than ever. With the yuan strengthening against the U.S. dollar, steep inflation, tighter credit, stricter labor laws, and less tax incentives, export businesses are shuttering plants and foreign investment is crossing China’s southern borders for cheaper alternatives. But on the other side of the table, multinational suppliers are choosing China to launch their products globally.

Opinion: China’s new labor law may even playing field

Toloken
China’s far-reaching new labor law is getting a lot of attention, says Plastics News’ Asia bureau chief Steve Toloken. The law expands worker protections, which can raise costs, and some companies are citing it as a reason to seek cheaper manufacturing spots such as Vietnam. But the head of one prominent U.S. business group in China thinks that notion misses the point. He suggests China’s getting tough on labor abuses could be good for U.S. companies doing businesses in the country.

Opinion: India is a land of opportunity, so don’t miss out

Grace
Fresh from the Plastics News Executive Forum in Tampa, Florida, editor and associate publisher Robert Grace comments on the delegation India sent to the PN event, as well as the talk around the conference about growth projections for the country. But, business in India does have its drawbacks. Even with a young, highly educated workforce, it is in many ways more than a decade behind China, and its infrastructure across parts of the country leaves much to be desired.

The Plastics News China Blog
Since the Plastics News China Blog went live last Tuesday, January 22, 2008, PN staff reporter and Asia specialist Nina Ying Sun has posted four entries:
Plastics News launches China Blog (January 22)
Battenfeld Extrusion´s uphill battle in China (January 23)
Selective enforcement in China (January 25)
Beijing unveils plastic-bubble-wrap aquatic center (January 28)

Opinion: Work conditions may affect China’s toy quality


Toloken
Judging from the just-ended Hong Kong Toy and Games Fair, the toy industry and governments are putting a lot of attention on improving toy safety and to correct problems that led to widespread recalls last year. But amid the efforts, some are asking: Can you really improve the safety of products from China without addressing the working conditions in the factories where they’re made? Plastics News staff reporter and Asia bureau chief Steve Toloken takes a look at what some reports on the topic are saying.

Opinion: China bag ban discounts disparity of consumers

Sun
The recently imposed bag bans in China have impacted many in the country: from consumers to shopkeepers to bag makers. And those who are most-affected are China’s everyday consumers. As Plastics News staff reporter and Asia specialist Nina Ying Sun explains: “The purchasing behavior of Chinese consumers is wildly different from their U.S. counterparts’, like dim sum is different from a cheeseburger.” In her opinion column this week, Sun takes a look at what a bag ban means in China.

Opinion: Plastics News provides its editorial agenda

Loepp
AKRON, OHIO (January 8, 2008) -- To mark the beginning of 2008, managing editor Donald Loepp updates and restates Plastics News’ annual agenda for its readers and the industry. This plan helps to guide the newspaper’s editorial positions and gives its readers a blueprint to help manage their companies. Topics covered range from safety issues to recycling to the free market.

Opinion: Is Chen Hsong filing a sign of sector trouble?

Toloken
The snowballing events in China that started in July -- from tax policy changes to the wave of toy recalls in America and Europe -- caused “massive” losses, reported one of the country’s top two press makers, Chen Hsong Holdings Ltd. Steve Toloken, Plastics News’ Asia bureau chief, takes a look at the company’s filing, one of the sector´s first to be released, and wonders if the report’s conclusions are a harbinger of trouble or just an anomaly for China’s injection molding industry.

Opinion: China needs stable recycling industry

Toloken
In many countries, recycling is seen as a clean industry. But in China, Toland Lam said, recycling attracts a lot of media criticism and is sometimes synonymous with foreign garbage. It doesn’t take much money to get into the recycling business, so Lam and other officials say the industry has too many operations without adequate pollution controls. Some local governments have stepped in with crackdowns on plastics recyclers. Plastics News correspondent Steve Toloken recently attended the China Replas 2007 conference in Guangzhou, where he heard Lam speak and interviewed him afterward.

Opinion: Better gatekeepers needed

Sun
China, the United States’ new No. 1 source of imports, feels unfairly treated by the Western media. The outcry over lead-paint-tainted toys has buried the fact that flawed design accounted for the majority of the affected pieces. But all that aside, Plastics News reporter and Asia specialist Nina Ying Sun points out that ultimately what is needed is for the U.S. to reinforce -- or even revamp -- its system for safety testing and inspection to include imports.

Opinion: U.S. firms should exploit China´s limitations

Haft
What could be reassuring about killer Chinese toothpaste, toys and tires? Hard to believe, but there´s a silver lining. The rash of product recalls reveals that China is not the manufacturing juggernaut we fear - and that America has an edge we tend to overlook. Jeremy Haft, the author of All the Tea in China: How to Buy, Sell, and Make Money on the Mainland and founder of BChinaB Inc., discusses the opportunities presented to U.S. manufacturers.

Opinion: Who really profits from brand China?

Sun
Mattel Inc.’s recent recalls of toys sourced from China poured more fuel on U.S. consumers’ fear and distrust of Chinese goods, following a string of made-in-China product-safety scandals this year. Plastics News staff reporter and Asia specialist Nina Ying Sun provides some interesting “equations” for thought after a recent study found two-thirds of American consumers would support a boycott of Chinese goods.

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