As businesses close and open in a return to some kind of normalcy in the future there will be changes in American manufacturing. This will cause shifts in demand and value of plastics processing equipment.
- Single-use plastics bags, once the pariah of the plastics world are making a comeback as the risk of being contaminated from reusable bags forces businesses to refuse to use them. Maine was ready to implement a ban, but decided to delay the ban until 2021 and California even lifted its ban for 90 days. Expect other municipalities to take another look at their current bans to see if they make sense in a Covid-19 contaminated world.
- Additional single-use plastic products have become marketable as people are not interested in touching, much less sharing, anything with others. Consumers would rather have their own bottle of water than share with someone else right now. Hand sanitizer bottles, pumps and wall units, plastics packaging for shipping are all in demand. Once workers and businesses return, the equipment that manufactures these products will be in demand also. Film Lines, blow molders, injection molders, profile equipment will all continue to be important as the demand for these products remains high and production of other non-essential products resume.
- Shortages of medical supplies and personal protection equipment is a major consequence of offshore production of products to keep Americans safe. The demand for N95 masks will level off, but it will be at a much higher level then ever before as they become part of daily life. Filter covers, mesh filters and straps are all made completely out of or with elements of plastic. Face shields and plastic (Tyvek) protective gowns will have a similar demand shift. Even mortuaries need to increase the protection of their employees when dealing with a body that has been exposed to Covid-19. But do the manufacturers want to rely on their foreign partners to supply them with the parts for this equipment or do they want to have the production available here when they need it? Expect machinery critical to the medical and personal protection to be in demand for the near future.
- We will likely see a works program the likes of which has never been seen. Anyone who remembers the “shovel-ready” projects of the past will know that a new version of that legislation will be in our future; once the bailouts and tax refunds are spent, the only thing left is to get people back to work. Look for an increase in the demand of equipment used in construction when these new programs begin. The demand for pipe and profile equipment was strong at the beginning of 2020. A large group of government-backed construction projects will induce a ramping up of products like pipe, insulation, flooring, windows and roofing.