U.S. Plastics Market Holds Steady During Turbulent Times

The U.S. plastics industry continues to show resilience in the face of ongoing economic and geopolitical uncertainties. Make no mistake – the challenges have been many, to include a pandemic, a war in Europe, supply-chain disruptions, soaring inflation, extreme weather events, labor shortages and ongoing trade tensions.
Plastic product manufacturing projected to grow this year
U.S. plastic product manufacturing rose by 3.8% last year, up from 2.9% in 2021, according to government data. [The industry is returning to its normal growth rate" after this series of convulsions, says Perc Pineda, Chief Economist of the Washington, D.C.-based Plastics Industry Association (known as PLASTICS). Both represent a rebound from the 3% decline recorded in pandemic-impacted 2020, he said in an interview in February.

Pineda still sees plastic product manufacturing growing this year, though possibly at a pace slightly below the 3.8% rate recorded in 2022.

On Feb 23, PLASTICS released a statement quoting the U.S. Census Bureau as saying U.S. retail sales in January 2023 rose by 3% from December and by 6.4% from a year earlier.

[If the economy continues to stay strong and consumers remain engaged," he said, [plastic product shipments could increase as plastics and plastic products are part of household consumption."

[I think that the likelihood that the U.S. could end up with a soft landing has increased," suggests Pineda. Still, [we could possibly be in a low-growth scenario for an extended period of time." Various indices show there are some concerns on both the demand side and the supply side of the economy. [Inflation is moving down, but it`s not moving down as fast as we want it to. Supply chain issues remain but are not as bad as they used to be. "