PETpla.net Insider 05 / 2010

MATERIAL / RECYCLING 20 PET planet insider Vol. 11 No. 05/10 www.petpla.net Influx of PET imports into the EU – changes ahead? The market for PET has undergone some pronounced changes in recent years. Temporary closures or total shutdown of production plants in Europe, along with the commissioning of new production capacity in the Middle East, are significant factors that have brought about some fundamental changes to the global volume of foreign trade in PET. Another key factor is the levying of anti-dumping duties on PET from countries outside Europe exporting to the EU. This can have a decisive effect on the flow of PET, as numerous examples can testify. PETPlanet Pulse, PETplanet’s monthly price index, has collected information on PET imports into the EU to illustrate these changes. We are talking about goods with the Harmonized System Code 39076020*. Market experts have helped us check and edit the figures to ensure their validity. of 2009 saw the Artenius PET plant in Wilton/UK (now part of the South Korean KP Chemical company) at a standstill, although production is expected to resume in the second 2009: EU imports of PET top 872 kmt The most significant influx of PET imports with a viscosity number of at least 78 ml/g was recorded by the 27 EU States (EU27**) in 2009 with a total of 872 kmt (2008: 580 kmt; 2007: 494 kmt) (see Fig.1). The marked increase in imports in 2009 by comparison to previous years may be explained primarily by the shutdown of various European production facili- ties. In March 2009 the Invista Resins & Fibres plant in Offenbach/Germany closed; this plant had a capacity of 210, 000t/a. No bottlenecks were reported, indeed the closure led to the remaining European PET produc- tions experiencing increased demand. However in March 2009, the Artenius PTA production plant in the UK, with an annual capacity of 500 000 tonnes a year, had also suffered an unex- pected collapse which forced Artenius to declare force majeure for PTA. All Western European PET producers were affected by the shortage of the input material PTA – and, this in the peak season. The end of the first half Fig. 1: PET imports into the EU from 2003 to 2009 PET imports into the EU