Kickstart: Live, from Shenzhen, it's an in-person trade show

Chinaplas 2021, the first big plastics show of the pandemic, opens today in Shenzhen. But it's going to look a lot different.

The April 13-16 trade show will open with mask-wearing, temperature checks and executives from outside China participating via video conference links with booths on the show floor.

But the fact that it's even happening is noteworthy. It was the first big show affected by COVID-19, and at this point is the only major in-person show still on the calendar for the next few months.

Our China-based correspondent Rebecca Kanthor will be reporting from the show. Stay tuned for our coverage.

China has already started holding large events, and Chinaplas organizers said 3,600 companies signed up to exhibit, about the same number as the last edition, in 2019 in Guangzhou.

That show drew 160,000 attendees over its four-day run, and while it's not clear how many people will attend this year, travel quarantines mean there's going to be much less in-person international participation.

Still, companies are gearing up and the show is offering a streaming platform for those not on-site. A media day was held April 12, also with virtual participation for journalists.

An April 12 press release from Italian materials supplier Radici, which is exhibiting, noted "a lot of excitement surrounding this event."

It seems fair to say the plastics world will be closely watching to see how it goes at this first show in the pandemic.

NPE2021, of course, was among those shows forced to cancel because of COVID-19. Starting this week, Plastics News is running a series of "showcase" stories featuring products companies had planned to roll out during the show, originally set for May in Orlando, Fla.

This week's print issue features products from primary equipment makers. Next week, the spotlight is on offerings from auxiliary equipment makers, followed by a focus on materials companies the week of April 26.

The stories will also run online at plasticsnews.com throughout the next three weeks.

A last-minute agreement between South Korean battery makers LG Chem and SK Innovation is clearing the path for SK to continue its plans for a massive battery production site in Georgia, without the need for a complicated political maneuver on the part of President Joe Biden's administration.

LG bested SK in a U.S. International Trade Commission dispute related to proprietary elements of lithium-ion batteries. SK is sinking more than $1 billion into new plants in Commerce, Ga., capable of making enough batteries for more than 300,000 electric vehicles. Enforcing the commission's ruling would have meant SK couldn't make the batteries needed for a big increase in EV production in the U.S.

The Biden administration could provide an exemption for SK, but it would have looked bad politically.

But on April 11, the companies announced a settlement: SK Innovation agreed to pay LG Energy Solution 2 trillion won ($1.8 billion) — 500 billion won each this year and next, and royalties for at least six years.