M&G to cease production at US PET plant in W Virginia

HOUSTON (ICIS)–Mossi & Ghisolfi (M&G) will be ceasing production at its polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plant in Mason county, West Virginia, county officials told ICIS on Friday.

Mason County commissioner Rick Handly said the county received a letter in the previous week that M&G would be forced to cease production at the plant due to lack of funding. Handly noted that M&G employees at the site had expressed their reaction to the news on social media days prior to the letter being sent.

The company said in a statement that “certain areas of its business may be affected across its operations” due to financial difficulties, but that “no decision has been made to permanently shutdown operations or construction”.

M&G’s plant in Mason county has a capacity of 250,000 tonnes/year, according to ICIS plants and projects.

M&G has faced recent financial difficulties that have led the company to reduce construction activity at its new integrated PET/PTA plant in Corpus Christi, Texas. That plant would have a capacity of 1.1m tonnes/year of PET and 1.3m tonnes/year of PTA. 

It was supposed to start operations in the fourth quarter.

Additionally, Alpek has stopped supplying PTA to M&G-operated PET plants in Altamira, Mexico, and Suape, Brazil, as a result of past-due payments. Alpek also has supply rights for the Corpus Christi plant.