Independent Can, Manufacturer of custom tins, stock decorative and seamless tins, industrial cans and quality metal packaging.

We are nearly half way through the year and business continues a steady climb out of this recession. We will finish the first half with a double digit improvement over 2009 although not back to 2008 levels. The market improvement appears to be broad based with all of our product lines showing improvement.

We must continue to be aware that the economy is still fragile with many obstacles to overcome globally. Yes, we are all operating in a global economic world and what effects China, Europe, Brazil, etc., has an effect on our economy and ultimately on our businesses. We have seen the effect on our stock markets with the financial announcements about Greece, Spain and Portugal. We have seen the effect these events have had on international currencies and fluctuations in currency effects many of the imported products we all use in daily lives and in our businesses.

As a company we are active in a number of overseas markets either importing from or exporting to other countries. We are finding that inflation overseas is increasing at a more rapid pace in the developing countries than currently here in the United States. In China there has been a significant increase in wages along with an increase in shipping container costs. China also has announced that they will allow their currency to appreciate which will help all United States based manufacturers to be more competitive.

We all must think globally and act locally to make sure our strategies are relevant long term.

Major Projects: As mentioned in my last report we are fortunate to have some major commitments for new metal packaging. We are deep into the development stage with start up on several different tins projects over the next 3 – 5 months. New equipment for compounding just arrived and more tooling will be coming in on a regular schedule which is exciting for everyone. One year ago there were almost no new projects and those days were scary.

Lithography: These are exciting times in the lithography department. We have in the past 10 months installed a new 4 color printing line, a trail UV coater behind the 6 color line and this month we will double our capacity for the making of our printing plates.

The benefit for all of our customers is that we are now able to process custom can orders faster than ever before. For our printing and coating customers we are able to perform at a very high level of quality and reliability.

As we enter the second half of 2010 and approach the seasonal peak, please begin to plan your tin requirements. With the economy in recovery planning is critical so we ask that you stay in close contact with your sales representative. Even if you are not ready to place your orders please make your sales rep aware of potential needs so that we are able to include your “what ifs” in our planning.

Thank you for your continued support and if I can be of any assistance please do not hesitate to call me directly.