ORLANDO, Fla. — State Commerce Secretary Keith Burdette says he’s made some good contacts this week at the National Plastics Expo 2015 in Orlando, Florida.
“There’s a lot of existing companies that we work with everyday that are here and obviously we stay in touch with them about opportunities for expansion but we’ve also had a series of meetings with prospects,” Burdette said of the show that occurs once every three years.
The state Development Office has joined the Polymer Alliance Zone at the conference taking place in the Orange County Convention Center. Burdette said plans for an ethane cracker in West Virginia are a “calling card” for West Virginia at the conference.
“Those folks that are in the industry know there’s a major shift taking place where companies are actively exploring ethane crackers in the Appalachian region,” he said.
Burdette said the companies are very deliberate about any plans to expand or relocate. He said it takes patience.
“Companies that spend millions of dollars making site decisions are very cautious and thorough in that work and that takes time and the bigger the investment the more time it takes,” Burdette said.
The commerce secretary said he’s been surprised about the interest the decision by Procter & Gamble to build a manufacturing plant in Berkeley County has generated at the plastics conference.
“Depending on what the product line they (P&G) manufacture they may be buying bottles or plastic bags so there’s a chatter about that,” Burdette said. “There are strings to so many of these different things and we try to tie them into a nice bow and create some investment opportunities in West Virginia.”