PET supply in GCC eases after Octal’s expansion in Oman

14 September 2012 09:12  [Source: ICIS news]

SINGAPORE (ICIS)--Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) supply has become plentiful in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region following the start-up of Octal’s two new lines at Salalah, Oman, traders and end users said late on Thursday.

The company has achieved 100% output at both new lines, a company source said.

Following the expansion in August, Octal’s PET capacity has increased to 927,000 tonnes/year from 400,000 tonnes/year, making it the world’s largest PET producer.

“As Oman is a very small market, Octal exports a significant portion of its PET output,” a company source said.

The company’s strategy of targetting global exports has kept the PET market in the GCC region from becoming too heavily oversupplied, a regional end user said.

The GCC region has a total PET capacity of 1.6m tonnes/year, whereas demand is only around 315,000 tonnes/year, prompting all suppliers to adopt an export-oriented approach, a market player said.

By: Prema Viswanathan
+65 6780 4359

For the latest chemical news, data and analysis that directly impacts your business sign up for a free trial to ICIS news - the breaking online news service for the global chemical industry.

Get the facts and analysis behind the headlines from our market leading weekly magazine: sign up to a free trial to ICIS Chemical Business.

Printer Friendly