PLASTICS Releases Analysis: Fed’s Final Move in 2024, Plastics Industry Impact

Washington D.C.— The Plastics Industry Association (PLASTICS) has released an official analysis on the Federal Reserve’s recent decision to cut interest rates and its impact on the plastics industry, authored by PLASTICS Chief Economist, Dr. Perc Pineda.

Dr. Pineda writes, “Despite the macroeconomy continuing to expand in 2024, manufacturing and housing experienced another year of slumps due to the high-interest rate environment. For the plastics industry, it appears that an interest rate of 4.0% or higher serves as a “threshold rate,” restricting capital expenditures and new investment projects both upstream and downstream. Plastics production and capacity utilization continued to decline, marked by unsustainable spurts in output.”

Click here to read the full analysis on the PLASTICS blog page.