Hot Melt Adhesives in Asia After the Economic Meltdown, 1999 Hot Melt Symposium Proceedings

Robert D Mitchell

Austin Marketing Resources

The last two years have been difficult for all businesses in Asia. The economic difficulties experienced during this time have had an impact on the use of hot melt technology for adhesive applications. While these effects have been quite profound, not all of them have been negative. In fact the case can be made that while growth has been slowed, this effect is relatively minor and temporary and there is evidence that 1998 production of Hot Melt Adhesive (HMA) was in line with some forecasts made a few years earlier. Furthermore, another effect of the depressed economy, lower costs for manpower and materials, can probably be seen as highly favorable for future growth. This is because low cost production capacity for both raw materials and adhesives is being added and will be ready to supply future growth. Adhesive suppliers are therefore aggressively looking to the future and the opportunities for growth they see coming when the economic turnaround happens. In the meantime, they are adapting their formulations to exploit the current depressed raw material market and looking for export opportunities to exploit this situation. All in all, it seems that the outlook for hot melt adhesives in Asia, with the possible exception of Japan, is highly encouraging.