Ministry of SMEs and Startups Visits Plastic Bag Manufacturers to Hear Opinions on Win-Win Agreements

The Ministry of SMEs and Startups visited plastic bag manufacturing companies that are facing difficulties due to supply chain instability and rising raw material prices caused by the Middle East war, in order to discuss possible countermeasures.

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On April 20, Vice Minister Lee Byungkwon of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups visited Shin Myung Innotek, a small and medium-sized enterprise specializing in plastic bag manufacturing, listened to on-site difficulties, and discussed response measures.

The plastic bag manufacturing industry heavily relies on naphtha-based raw materials, making it highly vulnerable to fluctuations in international oil and raw material prices. Recently, the burden of production costs has been rising sharply.

Since 2019, the plastic bag industry has maintained a win-win agreement between large corporations and SMEs. Through the Win-Win Council, large companies and SMEs share the current state of the plastic bag market and work to stabilize SME operations and strengthen their competitiveness.

The Ministry of SMEs and Startups directly inspected the implementation of the win-win agreement in the plastic packaging industry and listened to on-site difficulties, such as the increased management burden on SMEs due to the Middle East war.

During the meeting, participants shared the current status of the win-win agreement in the plastic bag industry and discussed challenges SMEs face, such as difficulties in securing raw materials and the immediate reflection of rising import raw material prices in product manufacturing costs, which leads to increased management burden.

Vice Minister Lee Byungkwon said, "In the current situation of soaring raw material prices, it is essential to make efforts to reasonably share the burden through industry-level cooperation structures. We will provide policy support so that voluntary win-win agreements formed mainly by the Win-Win Growth Committee can produce tangible results at the field level."

Regarding the challenges faced by SMEs in the plastic bag manufacturing industry, he added, "The Ministry of SMEs and Startups plans to actively support SMEs by expanding financial support such as emergency business stabilization funds and facilitating negotiations on supply prices. We will continue to improve relevant policies based on feedback from the field."

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