Announcements

New SPI Economic Report details U.S. trade deficit

An economic report prepared by Probe Economics, Inc. for SPI details the inner workings of the plastics industry's trade deficit. The report, which cites information not included in U.S. government reports, tracks activity through 2002.

According to the report U.S. imports of plastics products grew 43.6 percent between 1997 and 2002, while exports grew only 10.6 percent. The report cites increasing natural gas prices, the high value of the dollar and increased trade with Asia (especially China) as the three primary factors for the increase. Mexico proved to be the one positive area of the report. The U.S. has a surplus with Mexico in all plastics sectors.

For more information on the report, "U.S. Plastics Industry Trade Through 2002: Global Trends, Partners and Hot Products" please visit www.plasticsdatasource.org.