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Happy New Year!

The new year opens with news in the packaging sector of:

* A couple of debt restructurings that will allow two major paperboard carton, blow molded container suppliers to continue to operate,
* Some further consolidation in the end-of-line packaging machinery business.

Meanwhile, Dow Chemical Co. is pondering its near term future in the wake of a Kuwaiti partner pullout of a mega joint venture just days before the deal was to be sealed. That puts a crimp in Dow's plans to use some of the money from K-Dow JV to help finance its $15+ billion acquisition of Rohm & Haas. The R&H deal is still likely to go through, but Dow will be closely scrutinizing funding sources and price to be paid in the coming days...

There isn't a financial analyst or economist out there who says 2009 is going to be anything but a challenge - and while the core of the packaging market is "you gotta eat" recession proof - the economics of the packaging market is likely to overshadow, or be the underlying justification of, the market's technology in the coming months.

Hang on, it's going to be a bumpy ride.

Still, we'll bet the packaging supply chain community comes out of the global recession stronger and abler - without making an appeal for a government bailout - than when we slipped into recession a year ago.

In a precursor to further consolidation in the packaging field, Pearson Packaging Systems, Spokane, WA, wraps up the acquisition of Goodman Packaging Equipment, Chicago, IL. Transaction follows pattern favored by packaging machinery deals in recent years - extending capabilities of combined forces from a central core of expertise. In the Pearson deal, the expertise is secondary packaging, with Pearson adding Goodman’s top-loading case packers to its lineup of secondary packaging equipment for food, beverage, pharmaceutical, consumer durable goods, and personal-care packagers. Last month's Clamco Corp., Cleveland, OH, purchase by PAC Machinery Group, San Rafael, CA, followed same strategy as have most of the acquisitions of mega packaging machinery consolidator, Pro Mach, Inc., which has organized its acquisitions into three divisions - primary packaging, end-of-the-line packaging and product identification. More integrated acquisitions are in the offing.

Best wishes to you and yours for a happy holiday season and a peaceful and prosperous New Year.