Viet Nam Plastic Association (VPA) told attendees at its congress held last Saturday in HCM City that the industry should gradually eliminate outdated technology and machines.

They said companies needed to increase investment in large-capacity production chains to make high-value products and to produce more raw materials and components in Viet Nam to increase the localisation rate.

Advanced technology investment would create high quality and environmentally friendly products to compete in domestic and foreign markets, they said.

Currently, most plastic companies import machines and technology from other Asian countries. In 2008, the import turnover of Vietnamese plastic sector's machines was US$363.76 million.

Speakers at the congress urged the sector to develop new products to meet the increasing demands of domestic and international markets.

They also said that Viet Nam should focus on building national trademarks to compete in the international market.

The plastic sector has an important role in the economy, and it should develop in accordance with the country's industrialisation and modernisation, the VPA urged.

The plastic sector aims to reach export turnover of $3.2 billion by 2015 and $7 billion by 2020.
Currently, the country has about 530 plastic exporters. Vietnamese plastic products are present in more than 150 countries, with the 10 largest import markets being the US, Japan, Cambodia, Germany, the UK, Netherlands, France, Taiwan, Malaysia and Philippines.

Experts urged the industry to produce more technically advanced plastic for the automobile, motorbike and electronics assembly industries for the 2016-2020 period.

By 2025, the country should aim to have waste-recycling or processing factories for plastic products and plastic raw materials, according to several speakers at the congress.

Companies should try to use more recycled plastic as a source of raw materials, not only for environmental reasons but also because of lower prices and savings in foreign currency for imported materials, they said.

According to the VPA, the country would save more than $600 million per year and increase export turnover by 25 per cent if it used 35-50 per cent of recycled plastic raw materials.

The VPA also plans to promote the image of the country's plastics sector in international markets through media, websites, foreign magazines and fairs. It will also organise more business trips for local companies to survey new and potential markets.

Source:  VNS