A Very Happy and Prosperous New Year to all BPF Members

We start 2014 with optimistic assessments all round on a real recovery in the UK economy. These are likely to be confirmed in the BPF's January Business Conditions Survey currently being undertaken.

It's very important that the UK's recovery is not based as has happened previously, on booming house prices and consumer demand fuelled by debt. There is no sign of the latter and on the former the rise in house prices is due to four years pent up demand where people were unable to move home. We need to see in the recovery rising business investment, rising exports of products and investment in infrastructure.

Shale Gas deposits will give the UK a tremendous boost in the 2020's, not just in national energy supplies but also in raw material feedstock for the plastics industry.

On the negative side we face next winter, depending on the weather, UK energy supply not equalling demand, meaning factories will have to close production whilst consumers power supplies are protected. It's the opposite in China!

We also face in 2014 our Government foolishly imposing a 5p charge on plastic carrier bags, ignoring the fact they are only 0.02% of the waste stream and 70% of consumers re-use them. We shall of course oppose this, but our concern is that such meaningless knee jerk measures could spread to other plastic products such as bottles.

Finally durable plastic bank notes are to be introduced - fitting for the profits I hope you all will make!

Peter Davis OBE FRSA Director-General British Plastics Federation

ENDS

For all media enquiries, BPF logos and images please contact Laura Hindley, Communications and Industrial Issues Executive on [email protected] or 0207 457 5043

Notes for editors:

The British Plastics federation (BPF) is the UK trade association for the plastics industry – representing the whole supply chain including polymer producers, distributors, additives suppliers, machinery manufacturers, processors and recyclers.