Dow Chemical plans to bolster its product lineup to take advantage of evolving economies in Asia.
Plastics News, citing Dow executives in attendance at the Chinaplas trade show in Shanghai this spring, reported that the Michigan chemical giant hopes to deploy popular products from other markets into the Asia Pacific region.
The company is especially focused on the food packaging, industrial, health and hygiene markets. Dow's flexible packaging, for example, could be expanded from rice and sugar in Latin America to package oils and sauces across the Pacific.
Company officials argued that Asia's flexible packaging market moved ahead of the U.S. and Europe, where companies must reinvent themselves after decades of using non-flexible packaging.
Dow particularly hopes to capitalize on demand from China's growing middle class, as well as meet social trends in the country, including an aging population and the growth of online commerce.
The company, which is in the midst of a merger with rival DuPont, also aims to take advantage of the nascent plastics market in India.
“That goal to market is when the customer looks at us, ‘Hey, I want a specialty resin for this,’ and I have it," Diego Donoso, who heads Dow's packaging and specialty plastics business, told PN.