
BANGKOK -- For the moment COVID-19 appears to have slowed efforts to make the world less plastic.
Plastics manufacturers in Thailand and elsewhere are unexpected beneficiaries of the novel coronavirus pandemic. Higher demand for plastic containers and bags for food deliveries to stay-at-home customers has helped Siam Cement, a leading Thai petrochemical producer, post a 33% year-on-year rise in sales of packaging materials and containers in the first quarter the year, to give just one example.