May 2008

Nowadays, one of the competitive challenge that the Costa Rican’s alimentary companies has to face up for being part of international market is to introduce innovational and new products to their customers. These products have to offer their customers some aspects like: nutritional facts, easy to make, friendly packing with the environment keeping the organic characteristics and innocuous food, the fulfillment not only has to meet the alimentary safety but other alimentary rules that demand markets, all with an acceptable price and challenge.

Today’s view and due to the possibility to consolidate free trade agreements, the companies have to consider the necessities of the consumers in the international markets, change the products they offer, improve the production process and carry out with demand regulations of the country of destiny. The changes can be also done with a strategic to improve the productivity in the production process, trade and development, which give us the opportunity to have products and services with low prices. This is another choice to the innovation process.

An industry being innovating in last years is the plastic packing. When the crude oil price, the main raw material for the plastics, suddenly started to increase, the industry tried to find out solutions that let them decrease the costs and the volatility of the crude oil. An efficient solution is using ecological packing, that aggressively entered into the market by recycling plastic products.

Innovational Trends in Alimentary Packing
The innovation on the alimentary packing is related with innovated packing materials, their usage and the alimentary safety.

The conception of packing materials is more than a physical function and mix with physiologic function (communicative function, commercial, usefulness and security, importance of the consumers, etc), for the purpose to promote the alimentary sell.

Regarding the packing materials, there is a tendency of using ecological materials like paper, for being bio-degradable, and the glass, that can be recyclable and re-usable. The new technology created water-resistant papers and with antibiotic nets against bacterium, fungus and bugs.

About the different kind of plastic, we talk about the polyestyrene for being reusable, for its light weight and soft components that helps to keep the food fresh.

The last decades, the concern for having safety food has been increased not only for the producers but also for the consumers, so new special packing have been developed for keeping the innocuous of the food. One example is the “thermo fresh” packing that keeps the food in a controlled temperature, without using dried ice neither toxic material. This new vacuum-packed don’t damage the environment.

THE PLASTIC INDUSTRY IN PERU
The production of plastic packing is the main one, with around 46% of the total packing industry, being the production of PET preforms and packing the ones on the top. The raw material for this industry is 99% imported from the international petrochemical producers.

SOME INTERESTING NUMBERS
• The 99% of the raw materials are imported (petrochemical industry)
• From 2001 to 2004 the production grew up, 6% in 2005 and 7% in 2006 %
• The production of Packing PET has a participation of 46% in total productions.
• The export was 185 millions dollars and the imports 893 millions aprox.
• 800 companies created more than 22,000 formal jobs.
• The annual sells estimated that were over US$ 1,000 millions in the last year.
• The main destiny to plastic products are: Colombia, Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador, USA, Chile and Brazil

PET, REUSABLE PLASTIC SOLUTION
The Pet is a material that accepts recycling. In this way, materials can be re-processed to be conditioned and being integrated again to a new productive cycle as a raw material.

The first step for recycling is to choose from disposal waste from a selective or simple pick up. Then, the identification and classification of bottles, washing, labeling removal, crushing, taking out of heavy particles of other materials like polypropylene, high density polyethylene, etc; followed by the final washing, mechanic drying and storage of the chip. In the second phase, this pure chip is crushed and dry, increasing their viscosity and getting crystallized ready for processing into new pet products.

Finally it is obtained different products of PET, pure and colorless for fresh sodas, water, oil and vinegar, pure green PET for fresh sodas and water. And other kind, the pure blue PET, used for water, is obtained by the two systems.

In any case, not all the PET bottles can be recycled, in spite of real tenders of the manufacturers is to get light packing, mechanically resistant etc, also comfortable for the consumers, without any problem for further recycling.

IPACK, A SOLUTION FOR ECOLIGIC PACKING
The international trading Committee – X.COM – of the Chamber of Commerce of Lima, on the last Wednesday 14, organized a business round with one of the most important suppliers of ecologic packing machinery; especially PET. The multi national Taiwanese Company IPACK and its regional representative Zaimar Group join around 13 companies dedicated to plastic products, ecologic packing and solutions for this industry. Before this round, a conference was given by Mrs. Katrina Chang, General Manager of IPACK, where she explained the benefits of using this technology and the world tender to use ecologic packing and is benefits in long term for a corporative rentability and for the environment. It also count with the presence of Mr. Manuel Origgi Vinatea, General Manager of Zaimar Group, that together with Mrs. Rocio Boza, executive director of X.COM, who commented about the business complementary possibilities between Peru and Taiwan.

For more information.... Mail to katrina@ipack.com.tw Katrina Chang/Chairman IPACK INTERNATIONAL Co., Ltd.