JBF to start PET commercial deliveries from Belgium second half June

LONDON (ICIS)–JBF is scheduled to start machine trials and commercial deliveries of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) from its new plant in Geel, Belgium, in the second half of June, a company source said on Thursday.

“We started some production and [a] few samples have already been dispatched to customers for lab testing,” the source said.

Raw materials for the 432,000 tonne/year PET plant were fed into the reactor systems on 24 May, according to the source.

Lotte Chemical UK is on plan to start up its 200,000 tonne/year PET plant in Teeside, UK, this month.

EIPET’s second line, of 225,000 tonnes/year, in Ain Sukhna, Egypt, is mechanically ready and is expected up by the end of June or early July. Its first line, with the same capacity, came up fully in January.

There is some tightness in the European market as the peak summer season kicks in. Purchasing had been held off to an extent, as customers wait for cheap imports to arrive and new capacities to come on stream. If customers need prompt, domestic material now, they are faced with prices around €1,100/tonne FD (free delivered) Europe, depending on source.

Follow Caroline on Twitter
Please visit the complete ICIS plants and projects database