South African-sourced plastic goods are in high demand in Africa as companies in the building, mining, irrigation, gas and waterworks industries increasingly opt for plastic rather than steel.
There’s been a steady increase over the past five years, according to managing and founding member of thermoplastic piping specialist Plasti-Tech, Brad Chamont.
“The plastics industry is definitely growing and even taking over from the steel industry which has been getting smaller and smaller in the manufacturing of piping systems,” Chamont told FTW.
The demand for plastic piping fittings was also being driven by a significant increase in the number of infrastructure development and expansion projects on the continent, he said. In addition, industry innovation has enabled the manufacture of bigger fittings, opening up opportunities for new applications.
“Additives are also helping to achieve a stronger plastic, which means that there will be a growing number of plastic products that are stronger, or as strong, as what is currently available – but using less material to do so, making it more cost effective.” However, Chamont said that South Africa lacked the manufacturing capacity to produce some of the big plastic products, especially those that were technically advanced.
This meant that a lot of the plastic exported from South Africa was imported from the likes of Germany or Italy, and more recently China. Local production was however on a growth trajectory, he added. “And because of the growing demand, there is definitely a lot of space in the industry for new entrants.”
