*http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200708030103.html
Consumers to pay more for packaging THE ASAHI SHIMBUN* Consumers will have to bear higher prices for plastic food and drink containers as manufacturers plan to pass on the spiraling costs of petroleum-derived raw materials. Manufacturers have so far absorbed the price rises by slimming down their products to featherweight proportions. But several say they can go no lighter and are in negotiations to lift prices. Denkapolymer Co., which has been supplying supermarket stores with what it claims are the world's lightest food packing containers, is discussing an increase of 15 to 20 percent with its customers. Hiromasa Yonekura, chairman of the Japan Petrochemical Industry Association and also president of Sumitomo Chemical Co., warned last month that manufacturers no longer have any choice but to hit consumers with the climbing production costs. Companies that produce raw materials such as resins and films have hiked their prices several times in recent years, citing an increase in the price of naphtha, a derivative of crude oil and the primary material of petrochemical products. Naphtha has more than doubled in cost over four years. Because of intense competition across the plastic container industry, manufacturers have so far been unable to raise their own prices to compensate. Yonekura told a news conference: "We have been absorbing (the rise in naphtha prices) through rationalization so as not to pass on the increased costs at each stage in product prices. But there are limits to how far we can skimp." In June, Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co. switched to a new 500-milliliter PET bottle--the lightest produced in Japan--for its Pocari Sweat soft drink. The bottle weighs just 18 grams, about 30 percent less than its 27-gram predecessor, and half as heavy as the original bottle used when the 500-ml version was introduced in 1996. Previously, Otsuka Pharmaceutical had to use the thicker container to withstand the high temperatures used to sterilize the drink during the bottling process. But because the drink is now sterilized before bottling, the company has been able to cut down on weight. On average, Denkapolymer's containers are 20 percent lighter than conventional alternatives. For example, its fish container weighs 2.5 grams, compared to the 3.4 grams for conventional products. Still, Denkapolymer President Kenichi Ono said that the company cannot endlessly absorb the hike in the price of resins.(IHT/Asahi: August 3,2007) [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
