¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨| ABRE - Associação Brasileira de Embalagens |¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨

The WorldStar Awards Ceremony, held in Beijing International Convention Centre, on June 1 st, was hosted by the China Packaging Federation and 14 countries were in attendance to receive their awards. The evening comprised of the presenting of awards mixed with entertainment by dancers and musicians and was attended by over 100 guests, including winners from around the world, members of the World Packaging Organization (WPO) and representatives of the China Packaging Federation. One of the members was ABRE, represented by its Executive Director and also WPO Marketing Vice President, Luciana Pellegrino.

At the occasion, WPO presented the 3 rd annual Sustainable Packaging Awards given to the best examples in this area; five winners were recognized in this category. Thomas Schneider, WPO Vice President and member through IoPP (Institute of Packaging Professional – US), presented the Gold Award to the China Mobile Communications Corporation & Huwaei Technologies for the Green Packaging of Communications Equipment. An Honorable Mention was given to Ecobiz Co. Ltd., Japan, for the EcoBiz Belt. There were also recognized: Medtronic, US, for the New Stylet Kit Package (bronze) and Life Technologies, US, for the GIBCO Bottle (silver); a second gold went to Bunge Alimentos, Brazil, for the Biodegradable Margarine Package from a Renewable Source.

During the evening WPO President, Keith Pearson presented the awards and rounded off the evening with the three prestigious President's Awards.

The President's Gold Award to Sadia S.A., Brazil, for the Microwavable Packaging for Pizza.
The President's Silver Award to SCA Packaging, Finland, for the Campfire 2 Go.
The President's Bronze Award to Nampak Bevcan, South Africa, for the Talking Shivering Promotional Can.

The 2010 edition of WorldStar competition is open to any packaging that has won a recognized domestic or international award related to the area in 2009 or 2010. The packaging may not have been submitted for consideration in an earlier WorldStar Program. The closing date for entries, that will be judged in September 15 th, in Istanbul, Turkey, is August 27 th 2010 with the exception of entries from qualifying competitions whose results are announced after the 30 th July 2010. The deadline for these entries is October 15 th 2010, whereby a second judging with the same jury will take place at the end of October.

Besides the seven speakers already confirmed to participate in the 14 th Brazilian Packaging Congress organized by ABRE, last month there were confirmed two other important professionals from Bunge and Nívea Brasil. Gilberto Tomazoni, Vice President of Foods & Ingredients of Bunge will talk about “Regional markets, a national challenge” and Michael Kern, Supply Chain Director of BDF Nívea Brasil will present “Cosmetic market: the innovation as the power to increase”.

The presentations anticipate the high level of the event. “Every two years we try to bring to Brazil new professionals and themes, relevant for the national industry”, says Luciana Pellegrino, Executive Director of ABRE. According to her, this is the main reason why the event is so requested and has been consolidated as the most important in the national calendar.

The program focused in the central theme “ Packaging and the retail of a new Era: environmental responsibility allied to innovation” speaks by itself. Check the other speakers:

Wagner Coelho, Procurement Packaging Director for Latin America of Kraft Foods
Tom Szaky, CEO of TerraCycle
Héctor Nuñez, President of Walmart Brasil
Ben Miyares , Director of Packaging Management Institute (EUA)
Anne Johnson, Director of SPC – Sustainable Packaging Coalition
Hugo A. Jordão Bethlem, Executtive Vice President of Supply Chain and Information Technology of Grupo Pão de Açúcar

The various subjects like the post crises x the new economy, an updated consumer, economic distribution of consumption (social class, North and Northeast regions), wll be followed by a presentation of new products and technologies in the Innovation and Networking Area.

The Brazilian Packaging Congress, scheduled for September 22 and 23 in São Paulo , is carbon free and it sponsored by:

Avery Dennison is presenting to the Brazilian market the new generation of ultra transparent label material. The Think Clear combines an ultra transparent film with a total transparent adhesive that fuse visually in the material guarantying the ultra transparent finishing. The material attends a market demand of seeing the products; as much as the consumer can see the product, more he believes it is fresh and natural. The secret of the transparency is the PET liner replacing the traditional BOPP or PE liners. Another advantage is the fact the PET is thinner so it is possible to produce bigger roles that results in fewer changes in machinery especially important in automatic high speed applications. The PET can also be recycled and used for other applications. There are two important international brands using the new material: Kraft, in US, for the salads dressing line and the Chinese Kingway beer.

With more than 100 packaging professionals, PH FIT accomplished the second edition of its Packaging Innovation Forum in the end of June focused in the relation between packaging and communication. Luciano Deos, President of Brazilian Association of Design (Abedesign), the event´s moderator, said that “there is still a gap between packaging and consumer”. According to him the price war takes to commodities methods and lost of value. He says the packaging must establish a connection between the consumer and the brand and “if you have a strong idea supporting the project, the graphic solution can be simple”.

Other speakers on the event were Evandro Madeira, Marketing Manager of Grupo Boticário; Mônica Ogawa, Communication Manager of Cacau Show; and Gabriela Schultze, Coordinator of the Innovation Area of PH FIT. The company is already planning the third edition of the event, in 2011.

The Stratus Group has just announced an investment in the Unnafibras company, the major Brazilian company in PET recycling to produce polyester fibers, with one billion PET bottles recycled every year. The US$ 55 million investment will be used to increase the production capacity, expand the product´s portfolio and make some acquisitions. The brand of the company is ecofibra that register an annual turnover of about US$ 67 millions. An example for the use of this PET recycled fiber was the T-shirt used by the Brazilian soccer team in the World Cup.

According to Abipet (Brazilian Association of PET Industries), the volume of recycled PET in Brazil increased 20 times in the last 15 years. Today, 55% of the consumed bottles are recycled what makes Brazil the second major in the world in PET recycling, behind Japan.

The Brazilian brewery Schincariol has just launched the Nova Schin brand in 1 liter glass returnable bottle, following the trend began by the 600 ml version. The new bottle will follow the design proposed by Abrabe (Brazilian Beverage Association): an amber bottle, with no brand salience and that can be used by other companies after the dispose. The launch was first in the city of Salvador , capital of Bahia (Northeast state). The Nova Schin line is completed by the 0% alcohol, Munich and Malzibier (black) versions.

The Brazilian Gráfica Antilhas, member of ABRE, is using the Reciclato paper, from Suzano, another member of the Association, to produce promotional items, besides the paper bags adopted by the sandals brand Havaianas in its stores all over the country. Reciclato is a 100% recycled paper and will be used by Antilhas to produce about 5 million bags every year in four different formats in blue, orange, red and green colors. The visual of the bags and the layout is aligned to the position of Havaianas brand and reproduces the granulate of the sandals. Reciclato is the first recycled paper produced in industrial scale; it is composed of 75% of pre consumption scraps and 25% of post consumption.

Lightsweet, 100% Brazilian company, is launching a new product: the Multi Massa Lowçucar (a low sugar mix) is the first one in this category with low sugar especially for food service. The mix is ideal to prepare sweet breads, croissants, panettones and other pastry variations and was developed for hotels, bars, restaurants and bread industries. The two main ingredients of the mix are the Palma fat, zero trans fat, and the Stevia Plus sugar, extracted from the Stevia Rebaudiana plant. The new product is aligned to a market trend of reducing the ingestion of fat and sugar. Created in 1990, today Lightsweet has 150 itens in its portfólio.

Vitopel, the third producer in the world of flexible films, developed a solution for sachets for powder for the Frutop brand, from Ducoco Produtos Alimentícios. The new BOPP material guarantees a better resistance to humidity, temperature variations and better protection to the product, increasing its shelf life. They are also 100% recyclable and due to the reduced thickness it generates less weight after disposal. The thickness has another economical benefit: it is possible to produce the same amount of sachets with 45% less raw material. The roles are also lighter what increases the production speed in the feeling machines.

Today Brazil is responsible for 60% of the consumption of flexible packaging in south America and Vitopel has 52% of the national market; 64% of the company´s production go to the packaging segment for food, graphic, agribusiness, pet food, labels and others. The company produces 150 thousand tones of films in its three plants (two in Brazil and one in Argentina)

According to ISAAA (International Service for Acquisition of Agro Biotechnology Applications) Brazil is now the second major transgenic producer in the world, behind US (64 million hectares), in a universe of 25 producers. In 2009 the country planted 21.4 million hectares of genetic modified cultures, an increase of 35.4% compared to 2008 (equivalent to 5.6 million hectares). This is the best increase level from the 25 other countries and surpassed Argentina with 21.3 million hectares. Bellow a chart with the five major producers in the world:

Last June CNI (Industry National Confederation) and Apex-Brasil (Brazilian Agency for Export and Investments Promotion) opened an office in Brussels ( Belgium ). The Brazilian Business Affairs starts working in a moment when The European Community and the Mercosul began talking again about the commercial integration of both economic groups. The main purposes are to evaluate the European commercial restrictions and to identify initiatives that can damage the interests of Brazilian companies in the region.