U.E.B. worried about imports

Press, 17 June 1982, Page 10

U.E.B. worried about imports

PA Auckland U.E.B. Industries . is worried that its flexible packaging division could be badly hit if the Government allows cheap plastic imports from South-East Asia. The imports would be available if the Government follows up the recommendations of the Industries Development Commission's report on the plastics industry, which will go to the Cabinet economic committee, next week. "We have found that a plain polythene bag can be imported from Taiwan cheaper than we can import the raw material to make it." said the division’s gen-

eral manager. Mr Laurie Powell. "We are in. a no-win situation. We could counter by trying to better our service through quality and being on the spot, or it will mean winding up our business to a smaller size." The Plastics Institute’s executive director, Mr Bruce Dunlop, said that the main ' plan was to introduce a three-year, tariff-testing period, starting on July 1, and to remove import licensing protection from the industry.

“We are concerned about the effects, but have agreed to go along with the testing period. The results will vary for different products but the flexible packaging sector . could be quite vulnerable. "The industry is extremely competitive internally, and any loss of markets to imports could affect the size of the business concerned." said Mr Dunlop. At stake for U.E.B. in Auckland are Mono Packaging and its extrusion plant. “They are a significant part of operations, and the extrusion plant represents a big capital investment." said Mr Powell.

“The extrusion operation is like a steel mill. It runs 24 hours a day. every day, and if the level of business drops you cannot just reduce its hours of operation. It would mean closing down extruders," he said. He said that the company and the institute’s flexible packaging section had made their views on the danger of the scheme well known to the Government. “The Government is determined to go ahead with the scheme',” said Mr Powell.