Motion of the Association of Plastics Processors awaits consideration at the Ministry of Industry and Trade meeting

In the past week, the Association of Plastics Processors addressed a letter to Head of the Russian Government Mikhail Mishustin and Minister of Industry and Trade Denis Manturov with a request to create a working group for developing a regulative framework in order to reduce price volatility of base raw materials. The letter was received by the Executive Office of the Government of the Russian Federation on March 15. On March 19, a decision was made following the request.  

According to the response signed by Kirill Lisogorskiy, Head of the Industry Department of the Russian Government, motion of the Association of Plastics Processors shall be considered “with participation of the relevant executive government bodies and organizations at a meeting in the Ministry of Industry and Trade”. Text of the response includes a request to inform the applicants about the results of this consideration and send a copy of the reply to the Executive Office of the Government of the Russian Federation.     

Chairman of the Association of Plastics Processors Mikhail Katsevman confirmed that a positive and constructive dialogue is established between the Association of Plastics Processors and relevant agencies: “Last week we had a meeting with representatives of the Ministry of Industry and Trade. They listened to our concerns and gave recommendations for further actions. We hope that the forthcoming meeting will also result in specific results”.  

It is to be recalled that in its motion the Association of Plastics Processors reported that the current increase of prices for base polymers is putting the whole industry into a situation when “it has to either raise selling prices or to reduce activities, stop production plants and cut jobs”. Assuming that selling prices for source raw materials for production of bulk plastics fall under the responsibility of the Government as most of fuel-and-energy companies have state involvement Association of Plastics Processors suggested to develop a regulative framework, which shall “allow to reduce price volatility for plastics and remove the dependence on the international juncture in equivalent to laws regulating selling prices for fuels and socially important goods”.

The largest Russian compounder filed a separate motion to the Ministry of Industry and Trade stating that “prices for polypropylene in February 2021 comparing to mid-2020 have risen by more than 50%”.  The company noted, “the current situation with raw materials prices in Russia is near-critical and causes high anxiety” and proposed to create a working group with participation of relevant agencies, petrochemical companies and plastics processors.