NOVA able to triple EPS/PE capacity at Ningbo

25 May 2007 14:38  [Source: ICIS news]

GUANGZHOU, China (ICIS news)--NOVA Chemicals can triple its expandable polystyrene (EPS) polyethylene (PE) interpolymer capacity at its Ningbo plant in China, said a company official.

 

The company has a contract manufacturing agreement with the world’s largest EPS producer Loyal Group to carry out finishing steps in Ningbo, Zhejiang province, Tim Wong, the Asia Pacific general manager for the interpolymer ARCEL, said at Chinaplas earlier this week.

 

“We supply the raw materials for ARCEL to the Ningbo plant. Loyal insert a blowing agent and package the resin and we do the marketing and sales,” he said, but declined to give its capacity.

 

NOVA was bullish on the demand of its product in Asia’s protective packaging market as less of ARCEL was needed compared with EPS. This will cut cushion and logistics costs, Wong said.

 

China was the fastest growing market, but the decision makers were still in South Korea, Taiwan and Japan, he added.

 

ARCEL, which contains 70% EPS and 30% PE, is being used for packaging products from Dell, Samsung, Lenovo and HP.

 

“I recently visited a brand owner, a TV producer, and he told me margins for plasma TVs are really coming down and they realised the best way … to increase margins is to use ARCEL and get the logistics savings back,” Wong said.

 

“They are able to increase their loadings by 50% in a container by switching to ARCEL from EPS.”

 

The company also has engineers to work with customers and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to optimise their packaging, Wong said.

 

He added that the product was also able to provide better cushioning than EPS and can be recycled in the PS stream.

By: Florence Tan
+65 6780 4359

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