What's happening in markets
Staff -- Purchasing, 4/1/2004
- The U.S. plastics processing industry's trade deficit doubled in 2003 to $2.1 billion, led by worsening trade relationships with its largest trading partners—Canada, China and Mexico. Whatever the cause—global competition, currency pegs, energy prices, or sputtering manufacturing economies around the globe—U.S. industry did not fare well in international trade in 2003, according to new government data.
- Titanium dioxide (TiO2) sales into global plastics marketsare expected to grow at a rate of 6-7% percent per year through 2008. In North America, annual growth rates will be slower at 2-3.5%, while growth in Asia is expected at more than 10%/year, according to Kevin Leary, global plastics manager for DuPont Co.'s TiO2 business in Wilmington.
- Growing demand in the automotive market and other areas is leading resin maker Ticona to boost capacity by 25% at its polyphenylene sulfide (PPS) plant in Wilmington by the end of 2005. Fortron Industries, the PPS-making joint venture between Ticona and Kureha Chemical Industries Ltd., also has started conceptual design studies for a new PPS plant by 2009.
- Broadband is available to 89% of all U.S. households, but only 18% subscribe, according to the latest data from Point Topic, a research company. U.S. cable and telecommunications companies are working to close the transmission speed gap with other countries, but it will probably take years to catch up and cost billions of dollars. The U.S. lags far behind such global leaders as Korea and Japan, where broadband is far faster and cheaper because of more focused national policies, less cumbersome regulation and more densely populated regions.
- Texas Instruments, the world's largest maker of cellular telephone microchips, plans to unveil digital radio technology that combines multiple cellular phone functions into one digital chip by the end of this year. Bill Krenik, head of wireless components research, says the integrated chip will allow for a 50% reduction in power consumption and use of board space inside a phone.
- Toyota Motor Corp. is likely to sell a hybrid version of its best-selling Camry by 2006, mainly in North America. The world's second largest carmaker is aiming to sell 100,000 ecofriendly, gasoline-electric Camry vehicles annually, a move that would shift hybrid cars from a niche to a mainstream position. Toyota sells over 400,000 Camry sedans annually in the U.S., making it the most popular passenger car.
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