Indian plastics producers push for standards extension

Indian plastics manufacturers are seeking an extension of a deadline for foreign polyethylene (PE) producers to comply with the country's latest quality control standards.

The Indian Department of Commerce has submitted a request to the Department of Chemicals and Petrochemicals and the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) to extend the deadline set out by the BIS by at least 12 months to October 2022. The commerce department made the request on behalf of the Plastic Export Promotion Council, the All India Plastic Manufacturers Association and the PVC Manufacturers Association.

The request is because of the dependence on imports for some PE grades not produced domestically. These include medical-grade low-density PE, high-density PE pipe, PE100 black, PE100 orange, PE100 blue and ethylene vinyl acetate. Similar issues were raised over linear low-density PE metallocene with domestic production capacity being insufficient to meet Indian demand.

The BIS standards on PE have created market uncertainty with participants seeing a potential supply tightness with the new rules potentially limiting import availability.

The 180-day window to become compliant that began in April this year was insufficient to obtain the necessary approvals, market participants said. Manufacturers see the absence of imports driving up the prices of finished goods, so making Indian exports of finished goods less competitive.

Plastics manufacturers are also pushing for PE and PE imports used in the manufacturing of finished goods meant for export to be exempt from the BIS standards. Manufacturers want officials to implement the standards only after India becomes a self-sufficient PE producer. They want the standards imposed on finished goods before they are imposed on raw materials.

By Matthew Rajendra