Brazil’s relatively low plastics consumption represents significant opportunities for the country’s plastics industry, said José Ricardo Roriz Coelho, president of Brazilian plastics association Abiplast (São Paulo; www.abiplast.org.br). “The growth of the country is bringing to the market thousands of consumers who previously had no access to manufactured goods,” he said ahead of international plastics trade fair “Brasilplast 2011” (www.brasilplast.com.br).

The biennial fair, organised by Reed Exhibitions Alcantara Machado (São Paulo; www.reedalcantara.com.br), takes place this week in São Paulo. Supported by Abiplast and other national trade associations, the event runs from 9 to 13 May 2011. Brasilplast provides opportunities for companies to assess the market and develop strategies to improve their competitiveness, Coelho said. In particular, the fair will stimulate companies to invest in new technologies and products and enable them to meet new customers, he added.

Brazil has the opportunity to become one of the world’s most competitive countries for the production of plastic products, helped by the fact that it is becoming self-sufficient in supply chain products and raw materials, Coelho continued. Over the next two or three years the country is expected to begin the path towards becoming an exporter of oil, he noted.

The country’s largest plastics resins producer, Braskem (São Paulo; www.braskem.com.br), has pointed to strong growth in local resins demand. CEO Carlos Fadigas said during a presentation to investors in New York last month that Brazil will need a new thermoplastic plant per year until 2020. This scenario is based on the Brazilian economy growing at an average rate of 4-4.5 % per year and the PE, PP and PVC market growing at 7-7.5%, observed Jorge Buhler, director of US based Polyolefins Consulting (www.polyolefinsconsulting.com/eng). New projects planned by Braskem include the Petrochemical Complex of Rio de Janeiro (Comperj; www.comperj.com.br), which will include plants for PE, PP and styrene, and a new world-scale PE plant based on Brazilian sugarcane ethanol – see Plasteurope.com of 17.02.2011. Market insiders posit that Braskem plans to raise its sales in Europe in the future, too.

In the meantime, however, Brazil’s imports of plastic products are continuing to rise. The growth in imports of plastic products is exceeding the growth in exports, Coelho said. “This demonstrates that we are losing competitiveness compared with products made abroad. Contributing factors include raw material costs, exchange rates and interest rates – all of which inhibit investment,” Coehlo stated. The tax burden in Brazil is impacting the domestic production of plastic products and often consumers prefer to purchase more affordable imported products, he said.

Brazil’s plastics sector comprises more than 11,500 companies, of which 85% are concentrated in the country’s southeast region, according to Abiplast. In São Paulo alone, there are some 5,100 companies, it said.