
East Asian Market Updates and Latest Opportunities
East Asia is one of the most densely populated regions in the world. The three major East Asian countries, China, Japan, and South Korea, are well-recognized as the bellwethers of Asian industry. 2021 was a year full of challenges in both domestic and overseas markets. Amidst the challenges, enterprises on the one hand had to explore new markets. On the other hand, they needed to maintain a stable upstream supply. Other than these, they also shouldered the social responsibility of environmental protection and sustainable development today. East Asia was no exception.
Recently, China and other East Asian regions are gradually gaining their economic recovery momentum. As the world's factory, how can China strive to stabilize global supply? How can Japanese manufacturers reconstruct the supply chain to tackle the impacts of the epidemic? South Korea has recently set up a task force on economic security amid supply chain disruptions. Are the industry prospects bouncing back?
In this feature, CHINAPLAS keeps you abreast of the market trends by sharing market updates and latest opportunities of the East Asian countries.
Industry News
China’s supply chains have taken hits from COVID-19, power outages, a shortage of shipping containers, and a sudden surge in consumer demand. Even though U.S. demand has rebounded after COVID-19 vaccines became available, supply and logistics have taken time to catch up. Order fulfillment delays have become pervasive and will continue at least through Christmas. The bottlenecks have produced stark winners and losers.
Source: DIPLOMAT MEDIAJapan's factory activity expanded at the fastest pace in six months in October, an encouraging sign for the world's third-largest economy as it navigates the challenges posed by persistent global raw material and chips shortages.
Source: CNA AsiaA decades-old traditional market in Mangwon-dong, western Seoul, known for its affordable fresh produce and tasty street food, has recently been at the forefront of a grassroots plastic-free movement in the neighborhood.Mom-and-pop shops and vendors at Mangwon Market in Mapo District have taken part in a campaign to encourage people to bring reusable containers and reduce single-use plastics since May.
Source: Korea JoongAng Daily
Latest Movement of East-Asia Exhibitors
LG Chem’s role in the partnership with the start-up will be supplying ecofriendly material for the outer bottles. The two companies will also jointly develop ways to substitute the inner silicon pouch with LG’s nitrile butadiene latex, which requires less material to produce.
Apart from ecofriendly material, the partnership includes establishing a system where they can collect used bottles from consumers’ homes and have them automatically categorized for reuse. The recycling system will be first applied to Innerbottle’s beauty packaging from second half of 2021 and will expand to food and medical packaging as well.

It is expected that in 3-5 years, YIZUMI Intelligent Factory will become a truly transparent and data management plant, to achieve the goal of less manpower. After the project is put into operation, it is expected to support the output value of 4 billion Chinese yuan of YIZUMI injection molding machine product line in the next few years.

In recent years, the market demand for LCP in electronic components used in information and communication equipment has increased along with the increase in investment for 5G equipment, and it is expected that the applications of LCP will continue to expand with the full-scale support for 5G millimeter waves.
Polyplastics will continue to offer high quality and stable supply as a top manufacturer of LCP based on the further growth strategy of LCP business.

The market outlook for PBAT demand is bright considering the number of governments pushing to reduce consumption of disposable plastic.
PBAT is only the start of the Kolon and SK’s partnership in ecofriendly plastic, the companies said. Among other collaborations being considered are finding ways to mix plastic waste in recycled products or developing technology to biodegrade plastic that was not originally made to be ecofriendly.

The Refining and Chemicals business achieved an operating profit of RMB31.90 billion, representing an increase of RMB33.658 billion year-on-year. Within which, the chemicals business generated an operating profit of RMB11.857 billion, achieving a historical best performance. The commodity volume of chemical products was 22.695 million tons, representing an increase of 5.5% year-on-year.


Chemical recycling refers to the process in which waste plastics are decomposed into their pure material state and then used for the production of high polymer plastics. Compared to physical recycling methods, in which waste plastics are pulverized and processed, this method prevents the deterioration of product quality while enabling recycling in a repeated manner.
The company noted that the demand for ECOTRIA CR would be high in the areas of cosmetics containers, food packaging, home electronics and daily necessities since it features a high level of safety and materializes copolyester’s inherent features.


Lotte Chemical said its new label is non-adhesive and can be separated with ease due to the weaker strength of perforated lines. "Through the new label, we will contribute to the recycling of PET bottles and expand the development of eco-friendly products in the future.
Sinopec has been pursuing low-carbon, green, safe, responsible and sustainable development, seeking high quality growth of its natural gas business, The LNG contract with Venture Global LNG reflects the two companies' high consensus on supporting the global energy transformation and is of significance in achieving carbon emission peak and neutrality goals.

The OBP Recycled Content certificate awarded to Kingfa is based on two standards—EN 15343-2007 and ISO14021— for source traceability, chain supervision, and content verification of OBP. This certification signifies that Kingfa has reached internationally accepted standards in the use of OBP materials, ensuring that the products it provides meet consistently high standards. TÜV Rheinland will join hands with Kingfa for in-depth cooperation in the sustainability business sector and fully support its production of environmentally friendly high-quality recycled plastic products, to achieve the goal of low-carbon transformation.
The two parties expect to rapidly establish global, full-chain in-depth strategic cooperation in terms of sustainability.