Plastic shipments rise in 2003

Shipments of plastic products by Canadian companies in 2003 rose 3.3% to $19.6 billion, according to recently released Statistics Canada data. Despite the overall increase, exports declined slightly by 0.4% to 9.2 billion. Imports decreased by 4.6%.
On a product basis, the largest increase in plastic product shipments occurred for plumbing fixtures (19.5%), polystyrene foam products (10.7%), film and sheet (8.2%), and bags (8.2%). Shipments of bottles were down by 4.3%, while shipments of automotive parts declined by 0.7%.
Canadian shipments of resins (4.6%), compounded resins (2.3%), plastic processing equipment (5.2%) and molds (5.2%) all increased in 2003.