In an effort to boost competition, win markets and introduce Hungarian plastics products to other countries, about 100 different plastics companies at the end of November 2011 established the Hungarian Plastics Industry Association MMSZ. Although already existent on paper since the early 1990s, MMSZ now exists as a separate legal entity from the Hungarian Chemical Industry Association MAVESZ (Budapest / Hungary; www.mavesz.hu), of which it previously was a part.

According to local media reports, the decision to split off was based on “challenges resulting from a new system of interest representation” that arose in the wake of a new MAVESZ board having been elected in May this year.

Hungary’s plastics sector employs about 40,000 people. Earlier this year, a market review by Business Monitor International (BMI, London / UK; www.businessmonitor.com) predicted that the country’s plastics sector would resume growth in 2011 – following several lean years in the shadow of the global economic downturn – with gains driven largely by the country’s automotive and construction industries (see Plasteurope.com of 15.03.2011).