Octal expands its PET production

(plastemart) -- Octal has tripled its annual production capacity of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) resin this month with the commissioning of two of the world's largest vertical reactors at the company's leading-edge PET complex in Salalah.

With a total system output of 1 mln tpa of PET bottle grade resin, Octal has firmly secured its stature in the industry as the largest PET producing site in the world at any single location.

The company is now half way through its investment plan with additional capacity scheduled for 2015 and 2016. When complete, the site will manufacture a total of 2.5 mln tpa of PET and PTA.

Established in 2006 to meet the accelerating demand for PET sheet and PET resin, OCTAL has emerged as the largest PET resin manufacturer in the Middle East and the largest integrated PET sheet manufacturer in the world. Strategically located in the port city of Salalah on the southern coast of the Sultanate of Oman, OCTAL is well positioned to meet customer requirements from production to delivery.
MRC

(plastech) -- Bioplastics specialist, FKuR Kunststoff GmbH, presents a wide variety of biodegradable, biobased and natural fibre reinforced plastics under this slogan at the Fakuma 2012.

This time the focus is on the 'Green PE, which FKuR as the exclusive European distributor of Braskem S.A. will be presenting for the first time presenting at the Fakuma. In addition, optimised compounds based on 'Green PE' for injection moulding will be presented under the brand name Terralene. In contrast to traditional polyethylene, the polyethylene used for Braskem’s Green PE is made from Brazilian sugarcane, not crude oil.

FKuR will also be presenting the well-established biodegradable product lines Bio-Flex (for flexible applications) and Biograde (for injection moulding applications).
MRC

(rubberworld) -- Mitsui Chemicals announced production augmentation of Tafmer, a high performance elastomer, at its wholly-owned subsidiary Mitsui Elastomers Singapore (MELS) production facilities in Singapore.

The 2.5 billion yen investment will increase capacity 8,000 tpa for the elastomer and add warehouse and logistic facilities. Completion is scheduled for October 2013.

Tafmer, positioned as one of the group’s five world-leading businesses, is a flexible, lightweight elastomer with wide applications in automotive, industrial and packaging material industries.

Mitsui Chemicals stays chemically balanced as one of Japan's largest producers of petrochemicals and its leading producer of phenols (plastics). The company produces petrochemicals for use in the manufacture of such items as synthetic rubber and pigments. Mitsui Chemicals' other chemical products include fiber intermediates used in polyester, industrial chemicals used in paper, polymers used in pipes and films, and specialty resins used in adhesives. The company also makes polyethylene terephthalate and agrochemicals.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The price of polyethylene (PE) last week increased by USD10-40/tonne amid high feedstock ethylene prices. Local producers aim to increase prices for October further, as per MRC analysts.

Last week, Asian PE prices grew by USD10-40/tonne under the ethylene price pressure. Local makers plan in October to increases prices of polyethylene again, citing rising price quotations of ethylene in the region.

Local market participants are doubtful about hike of PE price in October. Export markets of finished goods in the U.S. and EU do not still show any signs of recovery in demand. Besides, the launch of new polyethylene capacities in China will add downward pressure on the market.

Last week, the deals for the supply of LDPE were at USD1,240-1,310/tonne, CFR. The prices of LLDPE remained unchanged, while the low-density polyethylene increased on average by USD20/tonne to USD1,280-1,350/tonne, CFR.

MRC