GE sees plastics prices weak through yr end

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Faced with deteriorating prices in its plastics business, General Electric Co.'s (GE.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) industrial unit is looking to boost its investment in new technologies with hopes that new products will improve margins, a divisional executive said on Wednesday.

"We're planning that prices will stay soft throughout the year," for plastics, said John Rice, a GE vice chairman and president and chief executive officer of its industrial unit, which makes products ranging from industrial plastics to light bulbs.

"There will be some more modest (price) decline for the balance of the year," he added, speaking at the Reuters Manufacturing and Transportation Summit in New York.

He noted the business cycle for plastics changes quickly, and said to remain competitive in the business the industrial unit plans to boost its spending on research and development to $900 million this year from $800 million in 2005.

"We're focusing a lot more attention on the high-end products, the real value-added stuff for automotive applications, for high heat, difficult ambient condition applications," Rice said.