Often overshadowed by their powerhouse northern neighbour, China, the Southeast Asian countries grouped together as ASEAN are also leading players in plastics, as Messe Düsseldorf (www.messe-duesseldorf.de), the organiser of "K 2010" notes. With GDP of USD 1.5 trillion, close to that of Spain or Canada, economic growth in the region continues strong, especially in emerging markets such as Vietnam. Thailand is an important automotive location where 1,800 automotive suppliers, including 700 OEMs, employ more than 300,000 people and account for 12% of the country’s GDP. Vehicle production in the country is expected to hit around 2.55m in 2014, ranking it 9th globally, sandwiched between heavyweights France and Mexico.

In electrical appliances, Thailand is ASEAN’s largest production base, with 800 factories manufacturing such products as air conditioners and refrigerators. The country is also a leading hub of white goods production for Japanese, Korean, European and US multinational companies. Malaysia is carving a niche for itself in power tool housings and the moulding of medical devices and products for the personal and consumer care sectors. In packaging, Malaysia has transformed itself into the leading supplier of LLDPE stretch film, which is converted locally into such products as multi-layer modified atmosphere packaging (MAP), stand-up pouches and medical packaging.

In Vietnam, the packaging sector currently accounts for about half of the plastics processing industry’s annual output. Per capita plastics consumption in the country has increased dramatically over the past two decades, from less than 1 kg in 1990 to around 30 kg in 2009. Another key to Vietnam’s growth, Messe Duesseldorf says, is infrastructure investment – in the electronics industry, for example, which expects export sales of more than USD 5.2 bn in 2010 and is targeting annual growth of 30% for the future.

The island state of Singapore, traditionally an Asian hub for multinational corporations, is experiencing a trend toward plastics companies utilising their headquarter operations for new product development especially in electrical/electronics and in some cases tool making. Singapore is also attracting other - higher added value area - product sectors. Some 17 of the world’s leading medical device manufacturers have invested in more than 20 manufacturing plants in the city-state.

Plastics processors in ASEAN must continuously push to maintain and improve efficiency in order to remain competitive regionally and globally. One step in this direction is the increasing use of all-electric injection moulding machines, as the K 2010 organiser points out. Green technology is also emerging as a new market for plastics converters in ASEAN. Solar panels and solar thermal technology for water heating are produced in Malaysia, The Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. Small-scale wind turbines also have the potential to open up market opportunities for converters in the region, as do fuel cells.

Growing interest in ASEAN is also being seen in the bioplastics sector, where Asia-
Pacific is expected to be the growth driver by 2013, according to US market research group
Freedonia (Cleveland, Ohio; www.freedoniagroup.com). While most of the growth is expected to come from the non-ASEAN country of Japan, more activity is being seen in countries such as Malaysia and Thailand. Here, multinational and government-influenced biotechnology clusters are setting the pace for the manufacture of bioresins.

Messe Duesseldorf says the number of Asian exhibitors attending the “K” fair has been rising significantly since 2004 (see Plasteurope.com of 22.06.2010), along with the number of trade visitors. Of the roughly 242,000 trade visitors attending K 2007, some 30,000 were from Asia, an increase of 7,000 compared to K 2004.