The prolonged disruption of the Strait of Hormuz amid the war involving Iran has constrained shipments of crude oil and naphtha to Taiwan, creating uncertainty for the island’s plastics packaging supply chain.
In response to feedstock delivery delays caused by shipping disruptions in the Middle East, Taiwan’s Formosa Petrochemical Corporation has declared force majeure on select petrochemical supplies
Taiwan’s Formosa Petrochemical Corporation has declared force majeure, while Formosa Plastics has announced production cuts on key petrochemical products.
Taiwanese consumers have been stockpiling plastic packaging products, prompting Costco to impose purchase limits on items.
Costco’s purchase limits cover items such as food storage bags and plastic wraps, effective until April 2.
The prolonged disruption of the Strait of Hormuz amid the war involving Iran has constrained shipments of crude oil and naphtha to Taiwan, creating uncertainty for the island’s plastics packaging supply chain.
In response to feedstock delivery delays caused by shipping disruptions in the Middle East, Taiwan’s Formosa Petrochemical Corporation has declared force majeure on select petrochemical supplies. These include ethylene and propylene, with the company announcing production cuts and suspending new orders.
Meanwhile, due to the disruptions, Taiwanese consumers have stockpiled plastic packaging products, driven by concerns over potential price hikes and shortages.
In an effort to manage demand, Costco Wholesale Taiwan has implemented purchase limits, which started on March 27.
Ten types of packaging sold at Costco Taiwan, including food storage bags, garbage bags, plastic wrap, and zipper bags, will be restricted to one set per membership card.
Berry Global Group, Inc. announced its collaboration with The Medicom Group, (Medicom), to design the manufacturing solution and guarantee the supply of nonwoven fabric intended for use in producing hundreds of millions of face masks annually as part of Medicom’s agreement with the British Government. Medicom is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of medical and respiratory masks. To do so, Berry is investing in a new state-of-the-art meltblown nonwovens line, to be outfitted with its proprietary charging technology, at one of its UK based facilities to increase capacity of material necessary in the production of European-standard Type IIR and N99-equivalent FFP3 masks. The masks will be manufactured and sold under Medicom’s European Kolmi brand.
Ox Industries has announced it is opening a new converting operation in Sturgis Michigan. The new plant will expand Ox’s geographic reach for converted products in the Midwest. The facility will be approximately 150,000 square feet of production and warehouse space and house two fully automatic high-speed protective packaging and tube and core lines from TCM Solutions, as well as a new high speed “SheetRunner” paperboard sheeter from BW Paper Systems. The facility will be vertically integrated within the Ox paper mill network and operational in the first quarter of 2021. Ox expects the project will create up to 50 new jobs.
Mondi plc has agreed to acquire the 250,000 tonne per annum Hinton Pulp mill in Alberta, Canada, from West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd (West Fraser) for a total consideration of USD 5 million. As part of the transaction, Mondi will enter into a long-term partnership with West Fraser to access local, high-quality fibre from a well-established wood basket. The intention, subject to pre-engineering and permitting, is to invest €400 million in the expansion of Hinton, primarily for a new 200,000 tonne per annum kraft paper machine, anticipated to be operational from the second half of 2027. The acquisition of the mill, and investment in the paper machine, will fully integrate operations in the Americas and enable Mondi to secure the long-term supply of high quality, cost competitive kraft paper into its network of 10 paper bags plants in the region, better positioning Mondi to support the growing market demand for industrial and mailer bags.
