Kickstart: The resurging Mexican plastics market

The plastics industry in Mexico is rebounding nicely from some dark days during the coronavirus pandemic. The latest evidence: big investments in Mexico from international injection molding machinery suppliers.

This morning, South Korean press manufacturer LS Mtron Co. Ltd. joined the parade, announcing plans to establish LS IMM Mexico with a headquarters and technical center in Monterrey and a demonstration center in Querétaro.

That followed last week's story — a scoop by Plastics News' Mexico-based correspondent Stephen Downer — that Engel Holding GmbH plans to build a major manufacturing facility in central Mexico to assemble large presses.

At last week's Plastimagen trade show in Mexico City, Haitian International Holdings Ltd. told Steve it's increasing the range of presses it manufactures in western Mexico.

All those press suppliers are bullish on Mexico along with North American manufacturing. That's a big shift in strategy from just a few years ago when tariffs and slumping sales cooled investment plans.

And what a change from March 2021, when the president of industry association Anipac said Mexico's plastics industry shrank 9 percent in 2020 and was in crisis mode.

Anipac's Managing Director Raúl Mendoza now expects the industry to grow 5 percent in 2023. Growth was between 3-4 percent in 2022, he said. Mendoza cited automotive, electrical appliances, packaging and nearshoring as factors driving the industry's resurgence.

Mexico still has significant problems but the plastics industry is coming back strong. That's positive news with opportunity for the entire North American plastics industry — after all, Mexico is the largest export market for the U.S. plastics industry, and U.S. plastics companies enjoy an $11 billion trade surplus with Mexico.

A key plastics industry voice was part of an interesting panel discussion last week on immigration and the economy.

Bob Confer, owner of industrial blow molder Confer Plastics Inc. in North Tonawanda, N.Y., was on a panel organized by The Buffalo News. According to the newspaper, the discussion highlighted the opportunities and challenges faced by both employers and immigrants, the border crisis in the Southern United States and how it impacts legal immigration.

Confer said he is big on educating, engaging, employing and empathizing with the immigrant population, according to the report. The company notes that 37 percent of its workforce is nonwhite while the community at large is only 4 percent nonwhite.

"Refugees have been a godsend for us," both for Confer Plastics and the region. He touted the workers' skills, their work ethic and their dedication to the company.

As a follow-up to yesterday's Kickstart item on plastic crates saving the lobster industry billions of dollars, here's something on what could be the next food product that will benefit from returnable plastic packaging: bananas.

According to Coral Gables, Fla.-based Fresh Del Monte Produce Inc., for the past 60 years, bananas have been shipped in single-use cardboard boxes. Once at stores, those 40-pound boxes are stacked in back rooms, a labor-intensive manual process that can take up to 40 minutes to handle while increasing the risk of damage to the fruit.

Del Monte worked with Rochester, N.Y.-based Arena Packaging on a reusable plastic container (RPC) designed to transport bananas. Benefits include improved airflow, extended shelf life and a life cycle of up to 15 years.