MIAMI-A Mexican maker of film and pouches for vacuum forming has had some success penetrating U.S. markets, and hopes to take advantage of economic uncertainty to expand further. Trouble with the Mexican economy is spurring hopes at Filmpack SA de CV of Guadalupe, Mexico, that its product will be even more attractive to U.S. food processing companies.
``Frankly, we have almost more work for Texas than we can do,'' said Hugo M. Gonz lez Del Rivero, Filmpack director general. ``There is very tough competition for our type of product, but we are doing well.''
Although Gonz lez Del Rivero, interviewed at the Foodpack of the Americas show, held Jan. 18-20 in Miami, declined to identify U.S. customers for Filmpack's multilayer polyethylene and nylon films and pouches, he said they are used by producers of fresh meat, cheese, poultry and snack products.
Filmpack's products include a five-layer, coextruded nylon-based film, with an ethylene vinyl alcohol barrier layer, and an ionomer sealant, and five-layer nylon-based film pouches with low density polyethylene sealant and EVOH barriers.
Last year, Filmpack's coextrusion lines produced about 800,000 pounds of film for wrap and pouches, but Gonz lez Del Rivero said expansion could be necessary soon if business remains good.
``The devaluation of the Mexican currency has hurt us in some ways, but has also enabled us to be a lower-cost supplier to some U.S. customers than some of the larger makers in the market,'' he said.
``We are definitely interested in finding distributors who can increase our exposure to consumers and food processing customers.''
He said the Mexican market for high-barrier packaging materials is growing, and is ``very interesting'' because it involves relatively small producers, like his firm, and multinational giants, such as Hoechst Celanese Corp. and W.R. Grace Co.
