Dow meets with German trade association to discuss closer collaboration

The Vice President of Dow’s Packaging and Speciality Plastics division for Europe has met with the President of German Plastics Packaging Association, IK, following the high number of force majeure notifications last year.

The meeting comes as raw material producers and processors aim to work together to ensure the number of force majeure incidents, which lead to significant pressure, materials shortages and price increases, are reduced.

IK President, Roland Roth, met with Dow’s Javier Constante, at the Dow site in Horgen, Switzerland, where they say “an encouraging start” has been made.

“Producers and processors have gone separate ways for a long time. We must ensure that the tensions we experienced in 2015, I need only say 'force majeure', are not repeated. Our industry must close ranks,” commented Roth. "We need a commitment on the reliability of our production supplying capacities in Europe and the will to continue supporting innovation in Europe."

Constante added: "We believe that the European packaging industry will continue to grow. Europe is not only a market, but first and foremost an innovation production location. We view the future positively and plan to maintain capacities and offer new products on the market."

The two parties also agreed to work together to create a stronger campaign to build positive public perception of plastics.

“At the moment we see a discrepancy between emotional reactions to plastic pollution and the facts, which often prove exactly the opposite and show plastics great usefulness,” Constante concluded.