Specialty Polyfilms believes the global recession is increasingly causing consumers in Europe to look for budget alternatives of household items, and that is opening up opportunities for the Aurangabad-based firm, said Shantanu Deshpande, marketing director.

The small company, which estimates it has about 25 percent of the U.K. market for specialty PET cling film, recently finished a US$2.5 million upgrade that will give it 600 tons per month capacity, he said.

“Europe will be outsourcing more to China and India,” he said in an Oct. 16 interview in his booth in the international pavilion of the Canton Fair in Guangzhou. He said the company is beginning what he called an “aggressive” marketing push.

Specialty Polyfilms makes its PET films under private label arrangements for other companies, and is seeing an increase in demand from its customers that sell into discount outlets in Europe, he said.

The firm is also witnessing increasing demand in India for its PET stretch film, but is seeing 100 percent annual growth in exports at the moment, Deshpande said.

The company is also benefiting from environmental concerns about PVC film and the switch to PET films in some markets, and is working on developing PET films for the meat packaging market.

He predicted the company’s capacity expansion will increase annual sales from US$6 million now to US$10 million by 2011, and boost employment to 125. The company also makes stretch films for packaging appliances and chemical products, as well as films for preserving grass and other crops used as cattle feed.

Another Indian firm interviewed at the Canton Fair, household goods injection molder Princeware International Pvt. Ltd., said it believes there are opportunities as consumers look for cheaper housewares.

The firm, which makes plastic containers, laundry baskets and other storage items, is planning to add 15 injection molding machines to the 65 it has in its Mumbai headquarters factory, said Abhay Mehta, sales manager.

Its business dropped about 20 percent during the economic slowdown, and some of its markets remain “very, very shaky,” he said. But the company sees opportunities as plastic tableware and other items replace glass.

“We see opportunities in this global recession,” he said. “People have shifted from more expensive items to plastic because it is cheaper.”

The firm is also expanding into Africa. It started small injection molding factories in Kenya and Tanzania two years ago, he said.