• Industry News

      Global Plastics Ranking™: China, the U.S., and Germany Lead

      October 18, 2021 The Plastics Industry Association (PLASTICS) recently issued its 2021 Global Trend Report. This PLASTICS' flagship publication takes a deep dive into the U.S. plastics trade with the rest of the world during the previous year and the first six months of the current year. It also provides a snapshot of the international plastics and rubber trade.

    • Industry News

      SPONSORED POST: Purging Compounds, Redefining Thermoplastics Efficiency

      September 15, 2021 The thermoplastics industry requires precision, efficiency, and consistency. At Chem-Trend, we serve the thermoplastics sector by developing purging compounds and mold maintenance products and support customers in different thermoplastics processes, like injection molding, extrusion, and rotational molding.

    • Industry News

      Mind the gap: Increased productivity key to U.S. economic recovery

      August 16, 2021 The COVID-19 recession was the shortest in U.S. history.[i] It started in February and ended in April last year. While the recession was short, it stopped our economy in its tracks. The recession caused a contraction of 5.1% in Q1 2020 and a contraction of 31.2% in Q2 2020 measured by real gross domestic product (GDP) on an annualized basis. Thereafter, real GDP growth bounced back at 33.8% in Q3 2020 and 4.5% in Q4 2020. In the first and second quarters this year, real GDP increased 6.3% and 6.5%, respectively.

    • Industry News

      PLASTICS Awards Donna Davis an Honorary Lifetime Membership

      July 30, 2021 The Plastics Industry Association (PLASTICS), has awarded an honorary lifetime membership to Donna Davis, former ExxonMobil executive and member of the Plastics Hall of Fame. Davis expressed her great pleasure in receiving the honor, saying, “I am delighted to stay engaged in this organization which provides overarching insight to the industry and a voice for that industry to the public.” 

    • Industry News

      An Update on Plastics Manufacturing Employment

      July 27, 2021 In April 2020, plastics manufacturing employment decreased to 531,200 from 592,100 in March based on estimates from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. In May this year, the total number of employees in plastic products manufacturing increased to 589,200. While the gap is closing, manufacturing employment is still 2,900 short of March last year.

    • Industry News

      Inflation: The Economy’s Barking Dog

      July 20, 2021 There is a barking dog in the economy and its name is inflation. Headline inflation in June, measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI), came in at 5.4% from a year earlier. Core inflation, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, was 4.5% in June. While energy commodities and used car prices magnified the increase in prices last month, the business and household sectors of the economy have had to deal with rising prices since March. Following 2.6% inflation in March, April and May continued to see inflation at 4.2% and 4.9%, respectively.

    • Industry News

      U.S. Beverage Consumption Bounces Back with Opportunities to Innovate

      July 15, 2021 Non-alcoholic beverages purchased for off-premises consumption in the U.S. fell from $103.9 billion in Q1 2020 to $98.0 billion in Q2 2020. Consumption of mineral waters, soft drinks, and vegetable juices fell from $84.9 billion to $79.3 billion over the same period. While U.S. retail sales at food and beverage stores rose 12.2% in Q1 2020 from a year earlier, the consumption of mineral waters, soft drinks, and vegetable juices fell by 1.5% over the same period. The convenience of single-serve bottled beverages took a back seat when COVID-19 restrictions went into effect as most Americans stayed indoors.

    • Industry News

      Update: Material and Resin Production Continue Recovery

      June 24, 2021 New economic data released by the federal government provides insight into the state of the plastics industry. PLASTICS is here to interpret signals in the noise.

    • Industry News

      U.S. Plastics Industry: Key to International Trade Now and in the Future

      June 14, 2021 The U.S. plastics industry generated an $8.6 billion trade surplus in 2020. U.S. trade in plastics—resin, products, machinery, and molds for plastics—with our 20 free trade agreement (FTA) partner nations totaled $15.6 billion last year. This is encouraging, but there’s also still plenty of opportunity for billions of dollars in growth.