At CMT's recently held PET Asia conference, David Swift, Managing Director of PCI PET Packaging Resin & Recycling Ltd, a London based PET consultant with good global knowledge of the PET market acknowledged that there will be 20 Millon tons of PET demand globally this year over 27 M tons of PET supply.

And that Asia Pacific remains the power house with 49 producers and global confirmed capacity expansions mostly in the region.

With overcapacities and PET resin being significantly cheaper in Asia, never has there been a more opportune time for resin producers to ship to the USA.

Can PET imports meet North America's demand for quality and consistency ? How about challenges on the import duties, complexities of custom clearances, shipment delays and shipping damages ?

Many of the PET resin suppliers supplying to the US market struggle with the strict customs clearance and regulations including logistics challenges. However this does not hinder them for supplying - especially to the West Coast buyers, as it is much more economical then sourcing from domestic production in the East Coast as inland transportation to the west is at a high premium.

Recycled resins are increasingly competing with virgin PET resins.

As China Operation Green Fence started to roll out last year, North America recyclers is waking up to the new reality that the quality of U.S. exported material is going to be more closely scrutinized and graded, hence forcing US to have higher standards for what they export out.

Given that China's appetite for scrap materials is voracious, what is likelihood of the Chinese government relaxing this policy in the near future ?

Domestically in the US, there is growing interest for usage of recycled PET in the fiber industry ,primarily industrial fibre, apparels and carpet industry applications.

In recent years, more and more consumer recycling programs have been established in communities across the United States. In the man-made fiber arena, rPET materials are the major raw material sources for recycled-content fiber products. Today recycled polyester textile products are offered by many brands including Adidas, Nike, Under Armour, NorthFace, Patagonia and many others.

With the main theme on "Competitiveness of the North America PET market & strategic sourcing opportunities" CMT's North America (NA)PET conference delivers exceptional speakers and up-to-date information on the current issues facing the PET industry in the region

• Global outlook of the PET market and changes in dynamics of PET trade
• North America PET market for Virgin PET
• r-RPET in US - pricing trends, impacts from China's Green Fence policy
• Challenges in recycling and collection of PET thermoformed trays
• Overview on the import duties and GSPs for PET exported to the US
• Customs duties including international freight related issues, Current port delays at West Coast ports and congestion with East Coast shipping
• Converters' perspective on strategic Sourcing of packaging raw materials, resin and bottle procurement
• Amcor's sustainable initiatives - Innovative and Sustainable PET Packaging Solutions - Thinking Beyond the Bottle
• GEPack - A Portugal converter entering the US market and new product offerings
• Growing Selenis PET Business from Strength to Strength as a high quality producer - Capacity expansions in Canada and US
• From rPET flake to apparels
• Direct Digital Printing on PET Containers

Don't delay. Register your team with Hafizah at hafizah@cmtsp.com.sg