ABC Packaging Blog

Investing in an eco-friendly image for your brand is win-win. Lessen your impact on the environment by reducing waste, pollution and CO2 emissions, cut costs and increase the perceived value of your products.

According to WRAP, 10 million tonnes of packaging are used every year in the UK. With a little more thought in the design process, it’s possible to reduce the amount of packaging you use and keep as much as possible out of landfill.

Reusable

One of the best ways to make your packaging more environmentally friendly is to make it reusable. This gives the packaging a longer life and can help avoid more raw materials being used. Resealable food containers are a good example. Resealable bags can be used to keep the original contents fresh, or repurposed as a container for something else.

If you’re sending goods by post, resealable or reusable packaging can help customers return unwanted items easily. Postal packaging is also widely reused by people sending their own items.

Recycled and Recyclable

While admittedly easier for some products than others, using recyclable packaging should be your first thought if you’re looking to go green. Virtually all paper-based boards can be recycled, even if they’ve been printed on or laminated. Most plastics can be recycled too, including polythene, CPP and OPP.

It’s also possible to make your packaging from recycled materials, creating a closed loop system where raw materials are continuously reused.

Sustainable

Sometimes it isn’t possible to use recycled materials. In these cases, the next best thing is to use sustainable ones. This board can be sourced from FSC managed forests. This means the trees are replanted or allowed to regrow and that wildlife and local communities are protected.

Plastics can even be manufactured from sustainable materials like corn starch.

Degradable

Another solution to help lessen the environmental impact of packaging is to use degradable or biodegradable materials. Some can be composted by customers at home, while others will naturally decay in the ground or when exposed to moisture or light.

Even plastics can be designed to break down. Some, such as cellulose acetate, are naturally biodegradable, while others have additives to give them that property. Polythene and cast polypropylene can be made to degrade when exposed to heat, stress and light over a period of time.

Lightweight

One of the simplest ways to reduce your impact on the environment is to use less packaging. Products need a certain amount to protect them and attract the consumer, but with clever design it’s possible to use fewer raw materials. This process is known as ‘lightweighting’.

This packaging is usually cheaper to manufacture and transport and means less waste ends up in landfill.

The Manufacturer

The packaging itself isn’t the only thing that has a potential impact on the environment. Ensure your manufacturer has a solid environmental policy in place, is reducing its own waste and is keeping carbon emissions to a minimum.

Even small details like the type of ink used in the packaging make a difference – water and vegetable-based inks are more eco-friendly than petroleum-based versions, which release volatile organic compounds.

Protect the environment and build a better relationship with customers at the same time. We design, manufacture and supply green packaging for a huge range of products and industries. Contact us for details.

Inclusive Packaging

Take a moment to imagine a life without sight.  Or without the full use of your limbs.  Everyday tasks like finding your favourite breakfast cereal and opening the box would be much more difficult.

So why don’t manufacturers make more accessible packaging?  Including braille on the box and making it easier to open and close helps widen your audience and improve customer loyalty.

Braille Packaging

Braille is widely used on pharmaceutical packaging as it’s a legal requirement – blind and partially sighted people need to be able to tell they’re taking the right amount of the right drug.  But it’s suitable for food packaging and retail products too.  Virtually anything that comes in a box or has a paper label can benefit from braille.

The beauty of braille is that blind and partially sighted people are able to pick your box out of the cupboard or off the supermarket shelf, even when it’s surrounded by other, similar boxes.  It means they can be more independent and easily read ingredients, and allergy and safety information.

Braille is a low-cost way to differentiate yourself from other brands – it shows you care.

Easy Opening

We all struggle to open jars and packages at times, but for some people, mobility and strength problems mean it’s a daily occurrence.  According to Arthritis Care, one in five adults have arthritis in the UK – that’s over 10 million people.  And this is just one example of one condition.

Inclusive design aims to make packaging usable by a wider range of people. It’s great for customer satisfaction and ultimately, improving sales.  When you consider that the proportion of older people in the UK is increasing every year, the market for easy-open products is huge.

It’s not just consumer products that need sensible packaging.  Corrugated cartons used to send goods to retailers can be designed to be easier to open as well.  This is especially important if you’re sending products like books, which could be damaged if the recipient feels they need to use a knife to open the package.

The best thing about accessible packaging is that it’s for everyone. It’s simply good design. Get in touch for advice on making your packaging as user-friendly as possible.

Your brand isn’t just your name or your logo – it’s in the mind of your customers.  It’s their perception of your product or organisation.  To create a strong brand, you need to sell an idea or a lifestyle, not just goods.  And that idea or lifestyle needs to be reflected in your packaging.

It’s easy to see packaging as a container that protects your products from harm.  But it’s so much more than that.  Great packaging speaks volumes about your brand, both in the text printed on it, and through the materials and design.

Here are five ways to make your packaging a silent ambassador for your brand – conveying your message from the supermarket shelves.

Show Them you Care

If your product is organic, green or vintage in feel, choose packaging that’s as natural as possible.  Don’t just tell your customers you care about the environment – show them.

Paper-based materials are ideal, as they’re renewable, recyclable and biodegradable.  FSC® approved board is an excellent example as it comes from forests that are managed to protect biodiversity, productivity and ecology.  Display a message about your green credentials or the FSC® logo on the box and tie this to your brand identity.

Using raw, unvarnished board and a minimal printing style adds to the effect.  Take this example from organic beauty brand Moa.  The display box reinforces how natural their products are, with simple labelling and beige-coloured board.

Be Innovative

Maybe your brand is new, edgy and forward thinking.  Shouldn’t your packaging be as well?  Think outside the box by designing something different.

Remember that using materials intelligently can reduce manufacturing and shipping costs, and that all feeds into the branding of your product.

Make a Great First Impression

For up-market cosmetics, fragrance and food brands, the packaging needs to ooze style and sophistication.

Consider adding an embossed design, spot UV varnish or metallic foil for an even more sumptuous effect.  These techniques aren’t expensive, but add to the perceived value of your product.  This box for high-class retailer Harrods is a perfect example, with foil blocking and a window to show off the quality of the product.

Add Functionality

A box is just a box, right? Well it doesn’t have to be. We all know that kids love playing with cartons, so why not turn the packaging of a toy or meal into a house or car that’s part of the product? This creates a more memorable experience and gives your branded box a longer life.

Young, fun brands can make their packaging more sociable, with containers for sweets and snacks that open out for easy sharing. The possibilities are endless.

Consider the Big Picture

Designing and branding packaging doesn’t happen overnight. You may have to balance several aspects of your brand or weigh marketing opportunities against other considerations like cost, weight, usability and the level of protection given to the product.

Whatever you choose, consistency is key. Use the same imagery, colours and basic design elements in your packaging that you use on your website, leaflets and other marketing material. Ensure your customers are getting the same message whenever they interact with your brand, and you can’t go far wrong.

If you need advice creating the perfect packaging, get in touch.

If you need Vacuum Formed Trays to present your product then we can work closely with you.  Firstly we assess your needs, create CAD designs then prototypes for your approval.  We can provide high-quality and cost-effective clamshell packaging, blister packs, plastic trays and display thermoforming.

Thermoforming is the method by which trays are formed.  This technique uses heat, vacuum and pressure to form the desired material into a shape determined by its mold.

Thermoformed and vacuum formed trays offer numerous options for protecting and displaying your products.  They can be custom designed, using a wide variety of materials and colours, for many applications such as the cosmetics, retail, medical, healthcare and food markets.  We can supply A-PET/R-PET which is an environmentally friendlier alternative to PVC, HIPS (High Impact Polystyrene) or PVC vacuum formed trays.

Trays and Inserts

Trays can be shaped to fit a particular product with features like indentations and stacking or de-nesting for easy stacking and removal from tight shipping boxes.  Trays can be embossed to allow for identification or finger holes for easy handling.

Another type of vacuum formed tray is called an insert.  Inserts can hold one object only or organize a multiple-component product for visual appeal.  Inserts are then typically placed into folding cartons or rigid boxes which if you’re not aware we can supply too!

We can provide specification data sheets of all raw materials, ensuring that the relevant specialist material is available for any specialised application, including fire resistance, impact strength, or conductivity.

Colour Co-ordination

If you want your inserts to match to your corporate colours or box designs we offer a colour matching service where we can match the insert to a Pantone® number.

Want something a bit different?

Talk to us about flock covered vac formed inserts or incorporate your logo into the mold.  This strengthens your identity and reduce counterfeiting opportunities.

You can find more information on our website but do feel free to contact us with your requirements.

Foil blocking is the process of applying metallic or ‘foil’ effects to a surface.  We use a metal die – like a stamp – onto which the design is chemically etched or crafted by hand from supplied artwork.  Dies are made from various metals and can be either ‘flat’ (foil only) or ‘combination’ (foiling and embossing done in one pass).  Our foil blocking will enable you to minimise the impact on the environment.  We continually strive to find new manufacturing techniques, substrates and internal processes to deliver quality the minimum on environmental impact.  More information can be found on our website here.

NO HEAVY METALS

Today’s hot & cold foils do contain metals. Metals are what provide foil stamping the refractive and reflective properties that makes it shine. Generally these metals are in the form of aluminum — not the toxic heavy metals that are of concern to environmentalists and the public.

RECYCLING

Foil stamping has no bearing on papers ability to be recycled. The metallic foil material is removed from paper in the same process that ink is removed during recycling. Both in research and in practice, the standard floatation de-inking process used by recyclers removes foils stamping even from samples containing extremely high concentrations of foil. Paper that has been previously foil stamped is gladly purchased, de-inked, recycled into pulp and made into new paper by recyclers every day.

BIODEGRADABILITY

Foil stamping does not impact the rate of biodegradability of materials that make their way into landfills. This has been proven in controlled studies that looked at foils on a variety of substrates including uncoated inked paperboard, inked paper board with an oil varnish, and inked paperboard with a water based varnish. In all cases both foil stamped and unstamped test samples biodegraded at an identical rate of time.

Folding printed boxes are the most commonly used form of solid board packaging. You only have to walk around any supermarket to see the vast amounts used to protect, display and market the products they contain, from frozen food sleeves through to cereal boxes.

ABC Packaging offers a full range of printed and plain boxes from a straight forward glued sleeve to a complex multi-point glued design.  You can see many of the available styles here.

We produce millions of high-quality folding printed boxes every year.  Standard printed boxes can have perceived added value with the addition of various print finishes such as foil blocking, windowing, complex varnishing and security features and we employ the latest in Braille embossing technology.  As a variation on printed boxes if your product is thin and not bulky why not consider a printed wallet as show on the left?  All the same print finishes can be added to a wallet as a printed box.

If you need full colour printed boxes or just a single colour logo style box then call our sales team on 01270 444777 who’ll be able to advise and guide you through our order process from sample and print approvals through to receipt of printed boxes to you.

In support, we can provide graphic and constructional design, including tamper-evident and child-proof styles. We also produce a range of leaflet-carton combinations. We use computer-to-plate technology that optimises pre-press lead times, whilst ensuring maximum print quality through the use of first-generation data.  If you don’t have your own artwork then we can talk you through how we can help with developing your idea into print ready artwork but if your design is already available digitally send it through to us for an accurate quotation.  We’d ideally like to receive our artwork as a Press Ready PDF and if possible CS3 files (fonts converted to outlines) and any linked images.  3mm bleed on all edges.  Colours to be CMYK (not RGB) and Pantones (clearly specified, no name changes).  Images CMYK 300dpi or higher.  Cutter named Cutter and saved as a spot colour.  Black text and barcodes must be 100% black and not a mix of all colours.

Corrugated cardboard isn’t the only material that can be used for boxes and cartons – we also offer a wide variety of solid boards, from folding box board to chipboard, greyboard and foil board.

Not sure which one is right for your product?  Take a look below for a description of each material or call us for advice.

Why Solid Board?

Corrugated cartons are mainly used for large, heavy products like appliances, or the transportation of lots of items in one box.  Solid board cartons, on the other hand, are often used to package the individual products that consumers buy.

Solid board is thinner than corrugated board, but is really flexible and has a huge range of uses.  All of our boards can be printed, foiled and varnished to produce a really attractive product that will fly off the shelves.

Types of Board

We offer a huge range of cartonboard from some of the best mills in the world.  That means you can be sure you’re getting a high quality product, whichever material you choose.

Our boards come in thicknesses up to 750 microns (0.75mm) and can come in virgin or recycled varieties.

Folding Boxboard (FBB)

This is one of our most versatile types of board – it can be finished in a variety of different ways, with printing and other cosmetic touches to add appeal to your product.  Examples include embossing, varnishing and foil blocking.  This board is also quite stiff – perfect for folding and glueing – and can have windows added to show off your product.

Folding boxboard is made from a number of different layers of wood pulp, with the top and bottom layers produced to give a smooth finish.  The front is usually white, while the back layer is cream or white.

FBB can be used for a wide variety of products, including food, tea and coffee, cosmetics, toys and other retail items.  Freezer tolerant FBB is also available.

Grease Resistant Board (Lino Freeze)

This is a type of folding boxboard that’s specially treated to resist grease and stop it penetrating through the packaging.  This makes it perfect for chilled and frozen foods that are oily or greasy, such as cakes, pastries or biscuits.

It can be printed or varnished on the coated side just like regular folding boxboard.

Foil Board

If you have a high-end product that craves attention, consider using a foil board as a base for the packaging.  This range of materials includes mirror-like, iridescent, rainbow, holographic, sparkly and coloured metallic finishes.  They can all be coated to allow them to be printed like normal board.

Solid Kraft Board (Kraftpak)

This type of board is made from 100% virgin unbleached fibre and isn’t coated, giving it a natural brown appearance.  It’s a really sustainable product that gives a lot of strength without using much wood fibre.  That also means it’s relatively light.

Kraft board can be used for dry, non-fatty foods and a wide range of retail products, including DIY and gardening items, gift boxes and mailing envelopes.  It’s also 100% recyclable and a great choice if you want to give a natural, environmentally-friendly look to your product.

One side of the board has a smoother finish than the other and is suitable for printing.

Natural Coated Kraft Board

This is a coated version of kraft board, with a smooth, white top surface.  This makes it suitable for a wide range of printing techniques, while retaining the high strength and tear resistance of the kraft board base.  Well-known brands we have available are Korsnäs Carry and Custom Kote.

This is great for relatively heavy products like bottled drinks or DIY equipment.

White Lined Chipboard (WLC)

This type of board is made from 80 to 100% recycled fibre and is a good choice if you want an environmentally-friendly product.  The top is coated so it’s white, with the reverse being grey.

White lined chipboard is often used for cereal and shoe boxes, toiletries and other household goods.  It can be printed to a high standard, and is suitable for embossing, foil blocking and window patching.  It is not suitable for direct contact with food.

Unlined Chipboard/Greyboard (ULC)

Unlined chipboard is silver-grey in colour and made from recycled fibre.  It’s fairly strong and provides great value for money, with a raw, unfinished surface.

This material is often used for the back board in refill pads of paper or board-backed envelopes, but has a whole range of uses, including food packaging where the board won’t be in direct contact with the product, house and garden products and outer cartons.

If you’d like advice on what sort of board would be best to package your product, get in touch today.

Die Cut Boxes tend to be bespoke designs but can fall into existing FEFCO categories such as the 04 range which can be found here.

Commonly used box for posting purposes.

Folder-type boxes and trays usually consist of only one piece of board. The bottom of the box is hinged to form two or all side walls and the cover. The mounting of the box usually does not include stitching and glueing. Locking tabs, handles, display panels etc., can be incorporated in some designs.  All of our die cut boxes are specifically designed for ease of use and convenience, plus strength and durability.  They can be printed lithographically or flexographically depending on the image you wish to achieve.

Probably our most popular manufactured die cut box is the ubiquitous FEFCO style 0211 box which is commonly known as a reverse tuck in end style box.  These die cut boxes are used in many industries but food, retail, medical and cosmetic sectors to name a few.  These boxes can have a striking effect with full colour print or consider adding foil blocking to maximise the impact.

We can use various boards(including those with FSC accreditation) in the manufacturing process to suit your requirements.  If you need protection for postal purposes you can go with a corrugated board but if you need a high quality print then this can be laminated to high quality printed board to give a greater impact.  If protection is less important then a solid board option would be the way to go in either a folding boxboard or fully coated folding boxboard with an unbleached Kraft reverse.  Ring us on 01270 444777 for more options on board types and designs.

To find out more about our die cutting processes click here and to find out more about the Forest Stewardship Council have a read of their latest news here.

Create the right impression with an eye-catching lithographically printed food sleeve for food products where the consumer needs to see the product as well as the packaging including all the nutritional information.  Food sleeves can incorporate hot and cold foil blocking as well as embossing and can be incorporated into your design to achieve  a quality finish.  You can also have the options of matte, glossy or UV varnishes to create added value to the food product.  Our Steuer Foil-Jet offers unique capabilities to enhance your packaging. Its technology allows for unprecedented speed, and enables us to apply significantly more foil to the carton, while achieving higher quality levels. Furthermore, we can offer you the option of foil stamping on SBS or recycled board rather than using foilboard, thus reducing costs and lead times.

Food sleeves are perhaps the most commonest form of in-store food packaging and are sometimes referred to as watchstrap-style food sleeves.  Food sleeves enable the customer be draw to the high quality printed images and nutritional information and at the same time being able to slide out the food product for a visual inspection.  This is one area where opportunities exist to use recycled material and lighter cartonboard  in the ready-meals market.  The watchstrap-style cartonboard food sleeve for ready-meals and other food products is in high demand by supermarkets for environmental and cost benefits.

We can also advise on the best board to use too.  You might want to consider using Maule RC Kraft (GC2) which is a fully coated folding boxboard with an unbleached Kraft reverse (Hard sized) which starts at 280 micron (180gsm) and goes up to 710 micron (390gsm) in standard specifications.  The board is ideal for food sleeves as well as Dry & Frozen Food Packaging, Cosmetic & Skin Care Packaging and Toy Packaging.

You can find more information at Food Sleeves or alternatively call Jason on 01270 444777

Please browse our gallery at any time to see the results that can be achieved.

Can we help with your Frozen Food Packaging?

Hit the shelves with the greatest impact, make your frozen food packaging stand out from the rest with eye-catching print on quality board.  Consider using  Excellent TOP (GC2) Fully Coated Folding Boxboard with a cream back (available HS & GF /GR).  Our frozen seafood packaging boards offer exceptional graphic capabilities, superior product protection, and may improve your manufacturing efficiency.  Frozen Food Packaging manufactured from folding boxboard remains one of world’s best options for cost-effective packaging that needs high graphic impact, product protection and versatility, while coming from a renewable resource and being the most widely accepted packaging material for recycling programs worldwide.  Due to the temperature changes that the boxes and sleeves will experience; it is essential that the resulting condensation doesn’t compromise the integrity of the packaging.  The choice of the correct board for frozen food packaging to withstand these temperature changes is paramount, so that the customer seeing the packaging for the first time sees it in the same condition it left your premises.

What are the uses for this board?

Cartons:
Cakes, Chilled Food, Chocolate & Confectionery, Cosmetics & Skin Care, Drinks, Frozen Food, Medical & Healthcare and Toys
Graphics:
Covers, Folders, Hosiery, Media and Sleeves

Mill Information

High quality virgin fibre-based cartonboard has been produced at Baiersbronn since 1951. The mill has built its reputation with Optimus White Back and Excellent Cream Back folding boxboard, which are mainly used in food packaging, cosmetics and pharmaceutical packaging, whilst their barrier-coated versions are used in bakery and frozen food.

The Baiersbronn mill combines stateof-the-art technology and processes with a highly skilled and knowledgeable workforce. Environmental protection is an important priority at Baiersbronn and has been for many years. Measures to protect the environment are not just limited to production but also include upstream and downstream areas of the supply chain, including purchasing and logistics.

Trucard is a British made, one sided coated board which is widely used in the cosmetic boxes, greeting card, publishing and packaging markets.  Trucard Cosmetic Boxes will give that high impact required in the highly competitive shelf space battle.

Trucard is a comprehensive range of coated and uncoated solid bleached sulphate (SBS) boards designed for the needs of the modern printer. Now available in an extensive range of finishes.  It is made from 100% Elemental Chlorine Free (ECF) woodpulps, sourced from carefully managed and renewed forests.  It is fully recyclable and is manufactured to precise and controlled standards.

It complies with BS5554 Toy Safety Regulations and is approved for direct food contact (dry and non greasy).

Key Benefits
• High rigidity and snap.
• High levels of whiteness.
• Solid bleached sulphate (SBS) board exhibiting exceptional printability, good folding characteristics, durability and stability.
• High gloss surface giving excellent ink hold out.

What are the uses for this board?

Packaging for Cosmetics, Pharmaceuticals, Perfumes, Chocolates, All Premium Food and Non-food Products.

 Mill Information

After almost 200 years of paper-making, Tullis Russell Papermakers maintains its pre-eminent industry position by combining long standing traditions of quality and service with a commitment to technology and training. It’s reputation is built on printing and writing grades which are used extensively for business communications, brochures, cards and annual reports.

Cartulinas CMPC S.A. has been manufacturing and selling high stiffness, white and smooth folding boxboard of varying weights and specifications since 1951. The company operates two mills, one located close to the city of Valdivia in Southern Chile and the other in the Maule region, with an annual production capacity of 430,000 tonnes.

The Maule Mill

Inaugurated in 1998, Maule mill is located 280 km South of Santiago and has an annual output capacity of 360,000 tons per year. This plant manufactures boxboard with an excellent rigidity/weight ratio and has state-of-the-art control systems for each of its processes that result in an efficient, high quality, and environment-friendly production. This modern plant also has an automated warehouse with 10,000 ton storage capacity for boxboard rolls in large formats, which can be cut to suit the customer’s requirements in a modern cutting room, with optimal delivery terms, and minimum loss. This mill also obtained the important PEFC and FSCTM certifications, which corroborate a clear focus on quality and environmental balance.  Since virgin fibres are used in the manufacturing of products at Maule Mill, they can safely come into contact with foodstuffs, as acknowledged by ISEGA and HACCP certification.  In addition Maule Mill has received ISO 9001:2000 and ISO 14001:2004 certification, which clearly demonstrates the mill’s commitment to the quality of its products and the protection of the environment.

The Valdivia Mill

Inaugurated in 1951, this mill was a pioneer manufacturer of folding boxboards for the production of cases and displays in Latin America. Its initial annual output was 5,000 tons per year, currently reaching 70,000 tons per year thanks to two renovations of the paper machine and its services, one of them in 1991 and the most recent one in 2006. These improvements included effluent treatment plants that help preserve the environmental balance in the area.

What are the uses for this Folding Boxboard?

Cartons:
Cakes, Chilled Food, Chocolate & Confectionery, Cosmetics & Skin Care, Drinks, Frozen Food, Medical & Healthcare, Toys

Graphics:
Books, Cards, Covers, Folders, Hosiery, Media, Sleeves

Polymer prices increased across the board in September. With production cutbacks, further plant outages and a lack of imported material putting a lid on supply, buyers who needed additional stock had no choice but to pay hefty price increases.

Polyethylene prices, where supply was tightest, saw the biggest gains, which were well in excess of the rise in ethylene costs. Polypropylene prices similarly moved well ahead of the feedstock cost rise. Polystyrene and PVC prices just about managed to nudge ahead of raw material cost increases. PET producers, on the other hand, struggled to match the rise in raw material costs.

Demand dwindles      

Those converters who did not have to buy were exercising some restraint with prices at such high levels and the degree of economic uncertainty around. Many were holding back purchases in the belief that prices could trend downward this month. Converters also note their own dwindling order books and are concerned about their ability to pass through the cost increases that they have to incur.

Supply shortens

Production controls are already maintaining material availability in good balance with the subdued levels of demand. However, a series of planned and unplanned cracker and polymer plant outages in September further heightened the sense of anxiety among buyers.

The latest supply-related issues are summarised below:

– BP declared force majeure for PET feedstocks paraxylene (PX) and purified terephthalic acid (PTA) produced at Geel, Belgium.

– Ineos declared force majeure on HDPE supplies out of Lavera, France due to a fire.

– Total Petrochemicals and LyondellBasell also declared force majeure on their HDPE plants in Antwerp, the Netherlands, and Plock, Poland, respectively.

– LyondellBasell switched off its ethylene cracker 6 in Wesseling, Germany, at the end of August for a scheduled maintenance turnaround lasting four weeks.

– Cracker maintenance also began at ExxonMobil Chemical in Mossmorran, the UK, at Borealis in Porvoo, Finland, at Ineos in Lavera, France, and at Sabic in Geleen, the Netherlands.

– Borealis declared force majeure for cracker products from the cracker site in Stenungsund, Sweden, on 20 August after an engine failure. Production was affected for two weeks.

– Shin-Etsu subsidiary Cires is performing the five-year maintenance turnaround on its PVC production line in Estarreja, Portugal. The work will last into October.

– Klesch subsidiary Vinylberre has begun maintenance of its PVC production line at Berre, France, with the work scheduled to last until mid-October.

October outlook

Buyers who may be pinning their hopes on some price relief in October could be disappointed. Crude oil prices were continuing to rise in September, mainly as a result of the weakening US dollar. Most industry insiders were predicting further increases in monthly feedstock contract prices for October. However, the expected cost increases were considered unlikely to match the triple-digit gains of the previous two months.

Polymer producers will no doubt seek higher prices in October should the expected cost increases go through. Buyers, on the other hand, will continue to play a waiting game until prices start to fall from their lofty heights.

Copyright 2012 by Crain Communications Inc.