With demand rising around the world, Zhejiang Zhongda Plastics Co. Ltd. is expanding its production of polyolefin shrink film as quickly as possible, expecting the launch of six new production lines in August and the inauguration of a new factory next year.
``Demand is growing in both overseas and domestic markets,'' sales director Burt Ma said. ``I would say the market has grown almost 600 percent in the last three years.''
Zhongda, located in Weitang Town, about 60 miles outside Shanghai, began operations in 1996. The company's polyolefin shrink films are used to wrap commercial products from toys to prepackaged meat and vegetables.
For most of Zhongda's existence, however, it has been a small operation. The popularity of polyolefin films did not take off in the country until about 2004, said Zhongda manager Elsie Wang.
``The company started out really small. Then, two or three years ago, this product started replacing PVC film,'' Wang said at the recent ProPak China 2007 trade show in Shanghai. ``Today, many companies must use polyolefin film because of health and environmental concerns.''
Zhongda has production capacity of 88 million pounds annually and employs more than 700. The company has factories in Zhejiang and Guangzhou.
``Right now our capacity can't fill our supplier demand,'' Wang said. ``We need the extra space.''
Zhongda, under parent company Zhejiang Zhongcheng Packing Material Co. Ltd., offers six lines of shrink film, including a cross-linked shrink film, a hot-slip shrink film, an anti-fog shrink film and a printable shrink film.
Wang estimates Zhongda supplies about 60 percent of the Chinese market and an even larger section of the international market.
``We export to around 50 countries worldwide,'' she said. ``Compared with other international companies, our prices are quite low.''
Domestically, however, Zhongda's prices are high. In China, Zhongda relies on product quality to keep growing its business, officials said. The six new production lines will mostly serve the company's export business.