Plastics are beginning to participate in the booming Southeast Asian economy, as witnessed to by the success of the the first-ever "Interplastica ASEAN 95", held in Singapore in May. Combining under one roof 213 exhibitors from 13 countries occupying a floor space of 10,000 square metres, it also was the largest-ever plastics and rubber exhibition held in the region, according to the German organiser, Düsseldorfer Messegesellschaft mbH Nowea (PO Box 101006, D-40001 Düsseldorf), the fair company that organises the triennual "Kunststoffe", and its affiliate Nowea International. In addition to five of the six ASEAN (Association of South East Asia Nations) pact countries. which include Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, The Philippines, Singapore and Thailand) visitors from Australia, Hong Kong, India and South Africa also were counted.

In view of the growing buying power and pent-up demand of the ASEAN countries (320m inhabitants), it is hardly surprising that industry visitors attributed a very high standard to the show and, in Nowea's words, were "equally positive about the quantity of the exhibits."European manufacturers of plastics machinery exhibiting in Singapore also had reason to be satisfied. In most cases, they saved the cost of shipping their weighty freight home, by selling the machines on the spot.

In contrast to Europe, which is becoming increasingly a saturated market, Southeast Asia is still a growth region for plastics. Pro capita consumption is still well under 20 kg annually, but this is expected to rise to 25 kg by the end of the century. In response to the sharply rising demand for plastics in the region, supplies are also growing rapidly. An impressive array of producers and converters has formed. Thailand already counts 3,000 companies, followed by Indonesia with 1,200, Malaysia with 980, The Philippines with 400 and Singapore with 350 – a total of 5,930 companies with 330,000 employees. Apart from several large companies, including a number of well known chemical multinationals, most firms are medium sized.

All ASEAN countries together account for around 3% of worldwide plastics production; in 1993 the region's capacities for thermoplastics totalled 3.7m t, including 24% for HDPE, 22% each for LDPE and PVC, 18% for PP and 14% for PS. Thailand, by far the largest producer, claimed 46% of the total, Indonesia 21%, Singapore 17%, Malaysia 14%, The Philippines 2%. In 1993, the ASEAN region consumed 3m t of plastics led by polypropylene, which accounted for 24% of total demand. PVC accounted for 21%, HDPE 18%, LDPE and PS 10% each, with the remaining 17% being taken up by miscellaneous polymers. The largest consumer was Thailand, with 35%, followed by Indonesia with 29%, Malaysia with 17%, The Philippines with 10% and Singapore with 9%. Growth rates for plastics in ASEAN currently are running at 7-18% annually, far exceeding global growth of 3-6%.

Machinery and equipment for plastics production must be imported, for the most part, whereby demand is continuously increasing. According to Euromap (European Committee of Machinery Manufacturers for the Plastics and Rubber Industries), under whose patronage "Interplastica" was held, the ASEAN countries ordered plastics and rubber machinery abroad worth $ 720m in 1991. In 1992, order value rose 8.5% to $ 781m, in 1993 by another 7.6% to $ 840m. A third of the orders were for European products, around half for Japanese machinery. In 1994, European machinery manufacturers believe they received about two fifths of the orders from ASEAN, with about 55% of the total for German machinery. Germany's machinery exports to the region were worth DM 220m, according to a preliminary estimate. In future, "Interplastica" will be held under the name ASEANPLAS. The next exhibition is scheduled to be held in Singapore from 21-24 January, 1997.