KINGSPORT, TENN (Feb. 10, 9 a.m. EST) — Eastman Chemical Co.´s specialty plastics business won´t be making the trip from Tennessee to Chicago to exhibit at NPE 2003.
Eastman informed officials at the Society of the Plastics Industry Inc. - the Washington-based trade group that organizes the event - of its decision last week, Eastman spokeswoman Deborah Galloway said.
Officials at the Kingsport-based business - a major producer of copolyesters, liquid-crystal polymers, cellulosics and other specialty resins - made the decision after considering the needs of its customers and of the markets it serves, Eastman said in a Feb. 3 news release. The specialty plastics business posted 2001 sales of $505 million.
“This is not a reflection on NPE or SPI, but simply part of this overall evaluation,” the company said.
Voridian Co., the Eastman unit that ranks as North America´s largest PET resin maker, had decided early last year not to exhibit at NPE 2003, Galloway said.
Eastman now becomes the second major resin maker to pull out of the show, set to run June 23-27 in Chicago. Dow Chemical Co. of Midland, Mich., confirmed in June that it would sit out the event.
