Plastics News Daily Report - May 10, 2018 - 62

Tech-Long
Continued from Page 60

customers are [just] looking for
low price. It's a problem," said Xu.
"But in the U.S., it's a developed
market. They are looking for new
technology and some innovation
technology.
"I think the U.S. should be my
main project in the future," he
said. "I think in the coming years
we can get a very big increase in
the U.S. market."
To start, Tech-Long will be distributing Unique's PET preform
systems, but more Unique products will be added, Boss said.
The companies said the combination will result in offering a
complete packaging line from preforms to package filling and say it
extends to service as well.
Both Boss and Xu acknowledge
the influence their work at Husky
has had on their business strategy to have the two firms provide a
complete solution.
"Really there's only one other
player that does what he does,"
said Boss, referencing Husky.
Unique is small in the U.S. market, but Boss said that in 2017,
Unique's sales in the United
States grew 100 percent over the
year before, selling two machines.
"We're going to go small, and
we're gonna do it right," Boss
said. "So, I believe we can be a significant player in the market."
He estimates about five years
are needed to really build the
market in North America. Boss
and Xu also said that the U.S. mar-

ket will help them enter Mexico
and South America, particularly
in Brazil, Peru and Argentina.
To help that push, the companies also announced that Fred
Pinczuk, a 22-year industry veteran, has joined Tech-Long Americas
as business development manager
for both Unique and Tech-Long
equipment and will head marketing, sales and service.
In an interview at Chinaplas
in late April in Shanghai, both
Boss and Xu also reflected on the
threat of a trade war between the
U.S. and China but said it does not
worry them much.
Xu said he doesn't see it as a
long-term problem: "This is the
way we can go forward. I trust we
can go into the U.S. market."
Boss added, "We've come too
far to turn away, so we'll just have
to weather the storm if it happens. You know I believe that this
is a negotiation and that in the
end what gets resolved it will be
less bad than what's being presented today."
But he acknowledges that there
will be competition in the U.S.
market, although mostly from European manufacturers.
"[If there is a trade war,] our
plan B is to stay in the market and
to price in a competitive way. If
that means adjusting our pricing,
we'll have to adjust our pricing.
Hopefully it's not for a long-term
situation," he said. "We're not
afraid of the European manufacturers. We can compete with
them from an innovation standpoint and from a price standpoint
as well."

India's Blend Colours targets
oxobiodegradables in US
By Satnam Singh
Plastics News Correspondent
Indian masterbatch manufacturer Blend Colours Pvt. Ltd. is at
NPE2018 - it's first time at the
U.S. show - and it's in expansion mode.
The company has three manufacturing facilities scattered
around Hyderabad and spent 300
million rupees ($4.5 million) last
year to boost capacity by 13.2
million pounds at its third plant
there, said Director Shailesh Lahoti.
That gives it a total capacity of
66.1 million pounds, but he said
increasing demand in both global and domestic markets means
the company will be making an
additional investment next year,
at its first two facilities.
"We are investing about INR
150 million ($2.25 million) to hike
the cumulative capacity" to 88.1
million pounds in 2019, Lahoti
said.
Exhibiting for the first time at
NPE2018, the company plans to
promote oxobiodegradable masterbatches.
"We have a customer base
in the South American market
but yet to open up in the North
American markets of the U.S. and

Plastics News photo by Satnam Singh

62 ‹ PLASTICS NEWS DAILY REPORT ‹ May 10, 2018

BOOTH S25155
BLEND COLOURS PVT. LTD.
Canada," he said.
It considers Latin and Central America as budget markets
and has been able to cultivate
clients over the years. With
intense competition in those
price-sensitive segments, it believes North America is a good
market to enter in the premium
segment.
"We are now focusing on having distributors or partners in
North America, as the strategy is
to push in to the premium market," he said. "We are in touch
with couple of parties in the U.S.
market, and one of them has
shown interest in working with
us."
The company, which says it's
seen strong export growth in
recent years, has some plans to
move beyond opening a distribution channel: "If we get the right
volumes, we may have some kind
of setup in terms of a warehouse
in the U.S.," he said.
Blend Colours is a subsidiary
of India's Shree Group, which
has business interests in flexible
packaging, poly bags, chemicals

Shailesh Lahoti, director of Blend
Colours Pvt. Ltd.
and pharmaceutical products.
Shree Group has a long history
of business in South India, with
the company being among the
first entrepreneurs to shift from
Rajasthan in the north of India
south to Hyderabad in the 19th
century.
The largest company in the
group is flexible packaging maker Shrinath Rotopack Pvt. Ltd.
The Blend Colours unit
opened in 1998. It manufactures
masterbatches and compounds
ranging from white, black, color,
additive and special effects and
fillers and is considered among
the 10 largest masterbatch producers in India. It claims the
highest black masterbatch capacity in the country.
http://ttchicago.com
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