China's hunger.

China's demand for plastic scrap will continue to increase according to a speaker at the BIR Plastics Committee meeting during the organization's May conference in Beijing.

David Wong of CB Holdings, Hong Kong, said that China imported more than 8 million metric tons of plastic scrap and recycled plastics in 2005, roughly half of which came from the EU, while nearly 3 million metric tons came from the United States. He told convention attendees that demand for such plastics "will become bigger and bigger."

However, Wong said "serious" problems confront traders and buyers, who must take responsibility for quality control. Plastic scrap is supposed to pass pre-shipment CCIC (China Certification and Inspection Co. Inc.) control procedures, which does not include a full inspection of the material's physical properties. "The trader and merchant are taking care of this issue," Wong said.

China is not the only part of the world experiencing robust demand for plastic scrap.

In his review of the Indian market, Surendra Borad of Belgium-based Gemini Corp. NV noted that 20 of the 30 Indian companies permitted to import plastic scrap had obtained three-month license extensions, while the remaining companies had secured longer license periods. However, he said that scrap imports from the United States fell "substantially."

Plastic production increased 14 percent in India in 2005, outpacing the country's economic growth rate of nearly 8 percent. According to Peter Daalder of Daly Plastics BV in the Netherlands, nearly one-third of India's plastics are made from re-processed materials.