RECTICEL

Shuttering of additional production facility announced several new orders from automotive customers / No full-year prognosis provided

AUTOMOTIVE INDUSTRY

Demand for new cars in Europe to bottom out in 2013 / Slight growth predicted for 2014 / Production stagnates at 12m vehicles / Producers fight poor demand with technology / Suppliers raise proportion of plastics in cars

INTERNATIONAL AUTOMOTIVE COMPONENTS

Tenth manufacturing facility opens in China / Assembly production for Ford, Volvo and Suzuki / Polyolefin and PVC resins for interior components

AUTOMOTIVE MARKET

Reduction of overcapacities in Italy, Spain and particularly France / TecPart says German suppliers are on comparatively safe ground / "Markets will stagnate for several years" / Raising R&D activities in Europe?

FAIRS

“Plastteknik 2013” in Malmö / Visit PIE at Scandinavia's leading plastics trade show

AQ HOLMBERGS

Swedish plastic component manufacturer buys injection moulder Vadstena Industriplast

MALAYSIA

Polymer production volume of 1.8m t in 2009 / Processing sector dominated by family-run SMEs / Most activity in industrial parks / Business gradually returning to pre-2008 levels / Roadmap for the future

MATERIALS RESEARCH

Energy-laden composite could substitute batteries / First application seen in cars