Film resin prices on the way up

Raw material prices for film are likely to rise because more resin suppliers are targeting non-food applications like electronics, according to a major supplier.

Price increases for resins, especially polyethylene terephthalate (PET), have come about at least partly because PET producers are targeting durable goods industries, Stephen Clarke, managing director of API Foils, told Foodproductiondaily.com.

Clarke mentioned other factors, including a rise in the price of cotton (which increases demand for polyester fiber as an alternative) and a slowing of investment in resin processing plants.

In an interview earlier this year with Food & Beverage Packaging, an executive of resin producer DAK Americas said mergers within the industry probably will mean slow or no growth in production capacity for PET and other resins. He was speaking in the wake of DAK’s acquisition of the PET business of Eastman Chemical.

Supplier mergers on the rebound

Mergers and acquisitions among packaging suppliers started to rebound in 2010 after declining in 2009 to the lowest level in almost a decade, according to BMO Capital Markets Packaging Group.

Deals among packaging suppliers increased both globally and in North America, reflecting a rebound in the general economy. Globally, there were 226 transactions in 2010, a 35% increase over 2009; in North America, there were 79 announced deals, up 18% from 2009.

Both globally and in North America, rigid packaging accounted for a greater share of transactions than any other packaging segment. This has been the case since 2005. Rigid packaging accounted for 36% of the deals globally and 40% in North America.

Flexible packaging was second in deal intensity, accounting for 22% of global volume and 20% of North American volume. Paperboard was also up, while labels remained flat.

Both globally and in North America, merger and acquisition activity among packaging suppliers has paralleled the general economy: a precipitous drop from 2007 to 2008, a smaller drop in 2009, and recovery in 2010.

BRIEFS

RPC Group has bought Danish rigid packaging supplier Superfos for $324 million. The seller is  financial investors IK Investment Partners and Ratos.

Tripack, a supplier of shrink sleeve application equipment, has moved to new headquarters in Florence, Ky.

Bosch Packaging Technology has changed the names of its subsidiaries Sigpack Systems AG and Paal Verpackungsmaschinen GmbH. Sigpack will become Bosch Packaging Systems AG, and Paal will become Bosch Packaging Systems GmbH.

Morrison Container Handling Solutions, a supplier of feed and timing screws and other change parts for packaging equipment, has hired Cezary Mroz for the new post of director of engineering and development.

FleetwoodGoldcoWyard, a supplier of material handling and end-of-line equipment, has promoted Neal McConnellogue to executive vice president. McConnellogue will assume the financial accountability of CBI Fleetwood Ltd., a FleetwoodGoldcoWyard company operating in South Yorkshire, England.

>> Conveyor supplier Dorner Manufacturing has established a new landing page on its website for three-dimensional computer-aided design. Accessing www.dornercad.com gives potential customers a quick direct link to more than one million model possibilities and will allow users to draw virtually any conveyor model with lifelike 3D clarity.

Flexible packaging supplier Pregis Corp. has set up a toll-free service hotline manned 24/7 by live staff. For more information, call 877-692-6163.

InspX LLC, a div. of Peco Controls that supplies X-ray inspection equipment, has moved its headquarters and operations to a new facility in Fremont, Calif.

Edwin (J.R.) Reeser has been recently named area sales manager for a newly formed Midwest sales region for Piab USA Inc., a supplier of vacuum systems and suction cups for robot arms and other packaging equipment.

Pacepacker Services Ltd. of the United Kingdom has named Spiroflow Systems Inc. their exclusive North and South American representative for the company’s bagging, pick-and-place and robot palletizing systems.