Decision on resuming US Texas PET construction expected in coming months

HOUSTON (ICIS)–Alpek and its partners in a joint venture expect to make a decision on resuming construction at their polyethylene terephthalate (PET) project in Texas in the next two to three months, the Mexican polyester producer said during its Q3 earnings call.

Alpek is developing the project, in Corpus Christi, with Indorama Ventures and Far Eastern New Century. All three hold equal stakes in the joint venture, called Corpus Christi Polymers (CCP).

The project will produce PET and feedstock purified terephthalic acid (PTA).

The partners are all quite eager to move ahead with the project, Alpek said.

PET resins can be broadly classified into bottle, fibre  or film grade, named according to the downstream applications. Bottle-grade resin is the most commonly traded form of PET resin and it is used in bottle and container packaging through blow moulding and thermoforming. Fibre-grade resin goes into making polyester fibre, while film-grade resin is used in electrical and flexible packaging applications.

PET can be compounded with glass fibres to make engineering plastics.