"New planned capacities in the region amidst global oversupply & margin pressures" Fall in raw materials prices drags the price of PET down
(Survey conducted March 18, 2014) PET Pla.net Pulse PET raw materials have taken a distinct tumble as supply exceeds demands in Asia and a number of additional capacities, especially PX come into play. How will this pan out in Europe ? It is anticipated that paraxylene prices will be pushed lower by increases in global production capacity, and unless PTA / polyester operating rates improve , paraxylene will drop even further with no resurgence on the horizon, and European producers will be forced to start cutting production. Meanwhile it is reported that South Korean PET to Europe has been sold out, and PET coming from Oman and Russia are no longer given tariff concessions as it is no longer consider developing countries. Hence most of Russia PET production are channeled to the domestic market. How about rPET ? Will lower PET prices affect demand for RPET, compounding the problem that collection rates for recycled PET are also not improving and quality is deteriorating. How are countries in this region addressing the collection problems ? How will the PET industry evolve in Greater Europe ? With La Seda being separated, where will all the separate divisions of LSB end up ? In September last year, their PET plant in at Volos, Greece, was acquired by Istanbul-based Polisan Holding and has since been renamed to Polisan Hellas. Has the PET plant at Volos restarted ? What are the plans of this Turkish buyer, which has targeted markets in Greece, the Balkans and Turkey. What will happen to LSB's bouyant APPE packaging operations and it recycling plant ? Despite the troubles of their parent company, APPE continues to be a thriving, growing business and winning new businesses such as Oji. Late last year, Appe worked with Oji and Hero to produce an environmentally friendly 100% recycled PET (rPET) bottle for Oji's 'sustainable' functional fruit drink. Recently APPE completed a major expansion of their PET recycling plant which now has the capacity to produce 48000 tonnes of rPET per year. | 
