Blow molding market still stagnant

PET could lead recovery

The slowdown and contraction of the market for blow molding capacity that began in late 1999 has yet to fully reverse, although quoting is up and there are signs that certain markets are ready to emerge from the doldrums.

“There is still a lot of consolidation in the accumulator head market,” reports Peter Tordy, president of Concord, ON-based BMPS Inc., a supplier of new and used blow molding and auxiliary equipment. “There’s a significant number of auctions going on in the U.S.”

Machines with accumulator heads are generally used for larger industrial applications in automotive and other markets, where there is presently an over-capacity. Tordy sees brighter prospects in the PET market, where demand for new capacity appears to be picking up just in time for the peak summer selling season.

“Ironically this has been the year of least investment in PET stretch-blow and preform machines,” says Tordy. “Now all of a sudden we’re seeing an abundance of quoting as the season starts. This is the reverse of what normally happens as people want to get their machines in before peak production.”

Tordy believes many companies are getting ready to place orders as production capacity is reaching 90% at some plants, and he sees a full recovery for PET by fall. Tordy says his company has weathered the downturn in the market this year by selling auxiliary and other non-primary equipment.

“In a good year we sell 200 to 300 machines. This year we’ve had months where we’ve sold one.”