MEXICO CITY — Mexico's plastics industry is likely to invest US$500 million in new equipment and raw materials this year, triggering a 6 percent growth in the sector, according to one of the two candidates seeking election as president of national plastics industry association Anipac.
The sector had sales of US$23 billion in 2013, Carlos Alberto Saldate Paton, a former president of Anipac's recyclers section, said at an April 1 news conference to promote his candidacy ahead of the April 8 ballot.
He insisted the association, which has 232 member companies, requires a change of direction, “a new perspective that leans towards sustainability and a strengthening of the association.”
In other comments, Saldate Paton said one of the biggest benefits the plastics industry would gain from Mexico's energy sector reform, approved by Congress's upper and lower chambers last year, was cheaper electricity. “Electricity in Mexico is 28 percent more expensive than in the United States.”
His election rival, Francisco de Caso Peláez, a plastics processor, told Plastics News by telephone that the energy reform represented a “great opportunity to push the industry forward” through lower electricity prices.
He said he wants to double the number of plastics processors within Anipac — currently there are only 50 — and he said he would do this by approaching potential members directly, rather than by telephone.
“Face-to-face communication is vital. I have always believed this. In Anipac we have a good product and we have to show people the benefits of joining.”
“I believe my ticket is excellent, proven and successful,” he said. “We have four women on the ticket. It's a very young ticket with a great deal of experience.”