The first general assembly of the newly founded China Synthetic Resin Marketing Association (CSRMA), which was approved by the Ministry of Civil Affairs, will be held at the end of June 2012 in Beijing / China. The industry group was born out of the recent merger of the China Engineering Plastics Industry Association and the China Chemicals Marketing Association and will be headed by Zheng Kai. In an exclusive interview with Plasteurope.com at this year's Chinaplas held from 18-21 April in Shanghai (see Plasteurope.com of 19.04.2012), Zheng said that CSRMA would be both a professional as well as a technical association and is expected to play a pivotal role in promoting the structural alignment of professional plastics associations while simultaneously expanding their activities.

As the 21st century gets underway, China is entering an era of rapid economic growth and development. The country's nominal synthetic resins capacity stood at about 55m t in 2011, while actual production output reached 48m t. Standard thermoplastics like PE, PP, PS and ABS (the latter is considered to be a semi-standard material in China) accounted for almost 37m t, a year-on-year increase of more than 14%. Data from China Customs indicate that the People's Republic imported near 29m t of synthetic resin last year. Once all exports are deducted, that puts China's total consumption for 2011 at a little more than 74m t. This makes China the world's largest consumer and the second largest producer of synthetic resins, after the US. By 2015, China's consumption is expected to reach 100m t, as its plastics industry continues to move towards both higher differentiation and more high-end production.

Given such expectations, the newly founded CSRMA has been tasked with assisting the government in drawing up relevant policies, regulations and guidelines designed to achieve emissions reduction and structural alignment, while simultaneously elevating the industry's standards.

CSRMA members include companies and groups engaged in R&D, plastics manufacture, marketing and sales as well as logistics, all with a focus on polyolefins, thermosetting resins, functional resins, engineering plastics, modifiers and additives. While CSRMA's daily business will be run by a secretariat headed by Zheng, its ultimate policies will be determined by an elected council.

The new association will include a number of sub-committees tasked with overseeing polyolefin, epoxy resin, phenolic resin, engineering plastics, captolactam, additives and supply chain activities, among others.