ANAIP The celebration of its 65th anniversary officially began last Friday, April 22, with the organization of a round table discussion in which the issues that most concern companies in the plastics transformation sector today were discussed: energy prices , access to raw materials or escalating inflation.
"We live in moments of uncertainty and this situation is here to stay," he commented. Louis Rodrigo, President of ANAIP, in welcoming this debate, which was held in virtual format after the 77th General Assembly of the association. he moderated it Louis Cediel, general director of ANAIP, and in it also participated Left Gregory, Director of Economy of CEOE; Carlos Navarro, President feique; Peter Leaves, secretary general of UGT-FICA y Francis Espinosa, managing partner of the Association of Electricity Consumers (ACE).
The president of ANAIP opened the debate by taking up the association's request to modify the marginal model of setting energy prices. "Industry needs security," he said. idea they supported Carles navarro, who commented that the industry is suffering a lot from energy prices, "we believe there is no choice but to change the pricing model" and Peter Leaves, who advocated "long-term solutions"; but did not share Francisco Espinosa. {I believe in marginalism, but we are in an exceptional moment and measures must be taken. What they did agree on was that renewable energies will be the majority in the future, due to sustainability and price, and that Spain has a privileged position that it must take advantage of in this regard.
The escalation of inflation was another of the issues that were put on the table. Gregory Left, director of economics CEOE, stated that the international context has changed a lot and that, at a time when a rebound effect was expected after the pandemic, new difficulties have arisen that we did not expect, such as dysfunctions in the supply chain or the conflict in Ukraine. "This causes uncertainty and business mistrust and will bring a scenario of lower growth." Regarding inflation, Izquierdo clarified that the CEOE forecasts that the current figure will go down in the second semester and that it will close the year around 4% or even less.
Among these new difficulties that have arisen after the pandemic is also access to raw materials and increases in the price of polymers, a situation that has been affecting plastics transformers for just over a year. Also the new regulations with objectives of reduction of some plastic products that from the industry we consider disproportionate and that will only suppose the substitution of some materials for others; or the creation of new taxes, such as the tax on non-reusable plastic containers included in the Waste and Contaminated Soil Law, which will come into force in 2023 and which will be an over-stimulation for the consumption of recycled material that will cause the prices of this material, even above virgin raw materials.
On the other hand, the industry is taking measures to improve eco-design, the management of the end of life of its products and to use more and more recycled material. Starting by investing in new technologies, such as chemical recycling which, as Carles Navarro pointed out, "has the potential to change the dynamics of the plastics sector and the chemical sector in general, since it allows waste to be removed from landfills that otherwise would not They can be used and converted into raw material. The development of this technology represents a clear example of the initiatives of the industry to be increasingly circular.
