Plastics Technology August E-Newsletter

[Dr. Dick]

From the August issue...

Injection, Extrusion Businesses Take Another Dip

For the second straight month, Plastics Technology's â„¢ Injection Molding Business Index dropped 5% compared to the corresponding period of 2006. Activity was down virtually across the board. But plastics economist Bill Wood of Mountaintop Economics is still sticking to his guns that business conditions improve beginning in the fall. Overall for 2007, Wood is projecting the molding index will improve by 4% from 2006. Meantime, the extrusion business is pretty much in the same shape. Our Extrusion Business Index declined by 7% in the latest month when compared with a year ago. This followed an 8% decrease during the previous month. Again, the slips were across the board, with film and sheet processors faring the best. Despite the bump in the road, Wood is projecting the index to increase by 3% by the end of the year vs. 2006.