Coronavirus updates: Geneva auto show cancelled

The organisers of the Geneva auto show said the event has been cancelled after Swiss government banned gatherings of more than 1,000 people. "We regret to announce the 2020 Geneva motor show will be cancelled. This is force majeure," a spokesman for the Palexpo show venue said Feb. 28.

Organisers said the show will not be held at a later date. "The show cannot be postponed. It's not possible. It's too big. It's not feasible," the spokesman said.

Earlier on Friday Swiss Federal Health Minister Alain Berset announced that events involving more than 1,000 people were prohibited with immediate effect. "In view of the current situation and the spread of the coronavirus, the Federal Council has categorized the situation in Switzerland as 'special' in terms of the Epidemics Act," the cabinet said after a meeting.

"Large-scale events involving more than 1,000 people are to be banned. The ban comes into immediate effect and will apply at least until 15 March."

The Geneva show was due to start March 3 with a media day for new product debuts. Automakers and suppliers had already begun withdrawing staff from the event after the virus became more widespread in Europe, with an outbreak paralysing large parts of northern Italy, which borders Switzerland.

The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Switzerland rose to nine on Feb. 27 and the canton of Basel-City put a number of children into a two-week quarantine after one of their caregivers tested positive for the virus.

Nick Gibbs, an Automotive News reporter, contributed this report.

 The Association of Rotational Moulders will postpone its Italian tour of roto moulders, originally scheduled for March 29-April 3, and a collaborative meeting with IT-RO, the Italian roto moulding organisation due to the coronavirus outbreak. ARM said in a statement Feb. 26 it expects to postpone the meeting until 2021 or 2022. “We are working with the venues in Italy and those we have booked for our next spring meeting to determine when we will reschedule … and will make an announcement in the coming weeks,” ARM said in the statement. “We plan to take advantage of the additional time to make the meeting even more worthwhile. “Our tour was scheduled to begin in the Lombardy region of Italy, which has the most COVID-19 cases in the country, and travel throughout that and the Veneto region, which has the second-most cases,” the statement continued. “We do not want ARM members to find themselves in a quarantine situation or anything like it.”

Just a day after organizers of JEC said the Paris composites event would go on as scheduled, it announced that it has now postponed it until May 12-14. It had been set for March 3-5. The organizing board and key stakeholders made the decision on Feb. 25. "The recent spread of the coronavirus in new countries last week, and especially countries playing an important role in the composite materials industry such as China, South Korea and Italy, has obliged the JEC World organization team and key stakeholders of the industry to reassess the current situation," the organizers said in a written statement. "Increased travel restrictions from authorities, but also at corporate level, both from exhibiting and visiting companies, have drastically reduced the potential attendance to the show."

As the coronavirus outbreak that began in China spreads globally, plastics manufacturers on multiple continents are also responding and preparing for more impacts on the industry from a virus now infecting more than 79,000 people globally and killing over 2,600.

Italy now has the highest number of reported cases of the virus outside of Asia, at 200, with five people dead. South Korea has the biggest outbreak outside of China, with more than 800 reported cases.

Rodolfo Comerio srl, a plastics and rubber machinery company, is limiting access to its base site near Milan.

“In light of the current health situation in Italy,” the company said in a Feb. 24 news release, “ … we are acting with the local health authorities so that all our partners are guaranteed the maximum security and the necessary information to avoid any risk of contagion from Corona Virus.

“Outbreaks have not been recorded in our area, the activities in Rodolfo Comerio are proceeding regularly and safety protocols prohibiting non-authorized personnel from entering the company have been implemented,” the release said.

MIDO, the annual global eyewear industry tradeshow held in Milan announced its board decided to postpone its 2020 50-year anniversary event scheduled for Feb. 29 through March 2.

“We took this decision out of respect for the current alarming situation and for our exhibitors and visitors,”  Giovanni Vitaloni, President of MIDO said in a news release Feb. 22. “We are aware that this decision will require industry professionals, exhibitors, buyers, press members, opticians and everyone working for MIDO, including our staff, to re-schedule their attendance, with a significant impact on all internal organizations. … but we cannot honestly think of celebrating our 50 years when the world - and our country now in particular - is experiencing such an international crisis.”

MIDO’s organizers postponed the event to a date “still to be decided,” between the end of May to mid-June, the release said.

On Feb. 24, the Dow Jones industrial average lost nearly 1,000 points, or 3.3 percent, while the S&P 500 also fell 3.3 percent and the Nasdaq fell 3.7 percent.

And beyond the stock market, petrochemical demand could fall by between 2.4 million and 4 million metric tons because of the virus, according to Bill Hyde, senior director of olefins and elastomers at Houston-based analytics firm IHS Markit.

The overall Chinese economy will be significantly impacted by the virus, Hyde said.

“Our best estimate right now is that Chinese GDP growth will be reduced by around 0.4 percent this year to about 5.4 percent,” he said. “A more aggressive scenario could result in GDP growth below 5 percent in 2020.”

The virus' impact on transportation in China has caused negative growth in global crude oil demand in the first quarter of 2020, according to Hyde.

Patrick Dempsey, president and CEO of Connecticut-based Barnes Group Inc., said in its fourth-quarter conference call Feb. 21 that Asia accounts for about 10 percent of Barnes’ total sales, mainly from moulds and automotive hot runners, and special nitrogen gas springs.

“Our primary concern remains with the safety and welfare of our associates around the world,” he said.

Dempsey said Barnes temporarily suspended employee travel in and out of China. Plants remain closed after the extended Chinese New Year holiday, but are “slowly coming back online.”

“At this point, we are monitoring the situation closely,” he said.

The industry is also responding to a growing need for plastic medical supplies for containment and treatment of the coronavirus.

Nantong Polymax, a sister company of PolymaxTPE of Waukegon, Ill., and a manufacturer of thermoplastic elastomers located about 500 miles from the centre of the outbreak in Wuhan, China, said in a Feb. 24 release that the Chinese government requested it remain open to produce a critical component called P3838, which is moulded into diaphragms needed for sputum aspirators, suction machines used to clear out a patients’ airways.

“Nantong Polymax has been allowed to keep a portion of their facility open, operating with a small shift of employees to run limited production,” the release said.

“Understanding the severity of the situation, not only in China but across the world, we are happy to be able to do our part to fight the virus,” Tom Castile, vice president of sales at PolymaxTPE said in a statement. ​​​​​

Miles Moore of Rubber & Plastics News contributed to this report.