“Sri Lanka can emerge a Plastics Exporter hub”

The first ever international plastics exhibition is to take place from August 10 to 12 at the Sri Lanka Exhibition and Convention Centre (SLECC).

Below are the excerpts of an interview conducted with B. Swaminathan President, Enterprising Fair (India) Pvt. Ltd.

Q: How big is the plastic industry in Sri Lanka?

A: There are nearly 800 tiny, small, medium and few large processors in Sri Lanka. Nearly 180,000 tonnes of plastics raw material is consumed / processed in the country. This does not include import of finished plastics articles. The size of the industry is estimated at 100-150 million LKR and it is safe to assume that the industry may be providing direct and indirect employment to over 100,000 people.

Q: What are the opportunities available for plastics industry in Sri Lanka?

A: In any developing country Plastics processing industry grows at twice or thrice the GDP growth rate in the country. Sri Lanka is not an exception. The plastics processing industry is expected to grow at least by15% CAGR-compounded annual growth rate. The mid - market is growing and this segment represents the growth segment.

With changes in purchasing power in tune with change in lifestyle, urbanisation, growing demand for convenience and packed foods, growth of modern retails outlets, the demand will be reflected in the consumption of plastics raw material also. The domestic demand will be dominated in key sectors like packaging, consumer goods, infrastructure products- water tanks, pipes, electrical, building materials.

Agriculture offers great potential for plastics – use of plastics helps conserve water, improve yield, productivity, preservation of soil nutrients, storage and transportation of grains and agricultural produce. Plastics can offer Low cost Housing to meet the housing requirements of the needy and the poor.

Besides meeting growing demand for domestic markets, Sri Lanka can aim to play a dominant role in the export of plastics products to other countries. With its strategic location, it can emerge as a hub for the international markets. This requires a strategic planning committed support from the government with an eye for the future.

All these translated in to numbers can be very sizeable.

Q: Why did you decide on organizing an event of this calibre in Sri Lanka?

A: For reasons stated above. This country offers great growth potential. Exhibitions play a catalytic role in the growth of a sector. In India the correlation between exhibitions and growth was quite significant.

A significant portion of the growth was because of exhibitions, because exhibitions allow showcasing of current advancements in machines and materials not only for the benefit of those already in the industry but also for the new and aspiring entrepreneurs. Some big companies perhaps can afford to travel to other countries –India, China, Germany but not all have this option.

An exhibition at the doorstep facilitates visit by a large section of those involved in the industry. Besides the owners, even the supervisors and workers stand to benefit by visiting the exhibition – they update themselves with the developments. This is the primary objective of organising an exhibition in Sri Lanka. This international plastics exhibition will also create a new breed of entrepreneurs because Plastics industry is one of the few industries which can be started with ease and at considerably low / affordable investment levels.

Q: Who are the parties behind organizing this event? Who are the partners and supporters?

A: SRI LANKA PLAST is organised by Enterprising Fairs India Pvt Ltd and I am a plastics processor myself having more than 4 decades of experience. The team has extensive links with the entire plastics industry in India and good links with other countries too. The promoters are also involved in the activities of the Plastics industry associations in different parts of India. In short the domain knowledge is the strength of the organisers. Besides this domain knowledge, the promoters have great experience in organising exhibitions even sizes four / five times than the present one.

It is always good to have alliance with local industry chamber and association who have good connections with the industry. Plastics and Rubber Institute of Sri Lanka (PRISL) is the right organisation with strong roots in Sri Lanka and well connected with the industry. PRISL is the co - organiser of SRI LANKA PLAST and our chemistry has been very good and we plan to work together with a long a term view.

Q: Is the plastic consumption rate decreasing? What are the key factors effecting the development of the industry?

A: The consumption of plastics is never on the decline. This is a sunrise industry. The factors that contribute to the growth of the industry have been listed in another answer.

On the environment aspect, littering of plastics bags is often mistaken to be the malaise of the industry. Plastic bags are one small sub segment of the entire industry. Moreover plastic bags don’t litter, people do. The plastics bags are all recyclable and good amount of recycling is done in Sri Lanka also. Yes it may pose some challenges to Municipal solid Waste management if the solid waste has some plastics.

But certainly there is no threat or concern for the environment or any health hazard by use or disposal of plastics. There are efforts to be channelized for segregation of plastics at the source itself and facilitate recycling. The National Post Consumer Plastics Waste Management is doing a great job in this direction and in fact they are setting up a theme pavilion on plastics recycling. Wherein the message will be know more plastics and not no more plastics.

Q: What can we expect at the Exhibition?

A: This exhibition will help the local processors to upgrade their technologies and identify newer and productive machines to reduce costs and adopt lean manufacturing practices the industry will know more about newer materials for improving the performance of the products. Besides this exhibition will help create new entrepreneurs.

There are special booths - PRISL will show case their activities – courses and seminars conducted in plastics and rubber. There will be guidance and consultancy booth offering advice to new entrepreneurs – manned by PRISL and experts from India. IDB and EDB also have booths and they will assist entrepreneurs for setting of industries and exports respectively.

There are live demonstration of machines – manufacture of water tanks, packaging films, pouch and bag making machines and the visitors can see the working and understand the process.

There are many companies who will offer machines for manufacture of –woven sacks, plastics bags and films,, Printing, PVC pipes and fittings, consumer goods, industrial articles like containers for packaging of oil, soaps, detergents, chemicals, paints, water tanks and other building materials.

In addition to the primary processing machines there are a slew of auxiliary machines on display – chillies, dryers, dryers, material loading system, converting machines like web guides, slitting and inding, tension controllers etc. In short SRI LANKA PLAST is the completer exhibition for Plastics – all under one roof.