PHOENIX (Feb. 12, 10:50 a.m. EST) — Integrated resin makers will do more of their own compounding in 2003, while the percentage of resin that uses concentrates will increase as well.
That pair of outlooks comes from John Jones, president of Applied Market Information LLC, a consulting firm in Wyomissing, Pa.
Integrated firms — such as GE Plastics, DuPont and BASF Corp. — made up 23 percent of the North American compounding market in 2002, trailing both independent compounders at 25 percent and end-use compounders at 52 percent, according to AMI.
“This should be a significant lesson for all compounders,” Jones said at the Plastics News Executive Forum, held Jan. 26-29 in Phoenix. “If it's not economical for your customer to buy a [compounding] service from you, there's not a whole lot to stop him from doing it on his own.”
Jones also said he sees growth in concentrates, in spite of an increase in closings caused by lean economic times. By AMI's count, nine North American concentrate makers have closed since mid-2000. By comparison, only five such firms closed in the 1995-2000 period.
