PETpla.net Insider 04 / 2014

EDITOUR REPORT 21 PET planet insider Vol. 15 No. 04/14 of 82,000t of PET. By contrast, according to Ruben Melara, only 75,000t were needed for 2.5billion preforms in 2012, with a comparable preform mix, and they are continuing with the weight reduction in small steps. The production program is still focusing on the beverages sector and now expanded into containers for food and other segments. Along with the light weight program for one way contain- ers, there is encouraging development in the refillable PET bottles for CSD, where once again growth is being registered. One focus of development within the group is hot fill PET bot- tles. However, here in Brazil the market tends to be modest. “Even though we have the lightest hot fill PET bottle with a crystallised neck finish on the market,” says Ruben Melara, “the majority of bottles deployed are restricted to isotonic and ready-to-drink teas.” Bottled juices do not feature here in Brazil. The reasons for this probably lie in the plentiful supply of local fruits. A typical breakfast consists of coffee, freshly pressed fruit juice and bread. In addition, here in Brazil the topic of aseptic bottling is still in its early stages, which is actually unusual for such a large beverage market, says Ruben Melara. The manufacture of heat set preforms with 33 and 38mm neck finishes is carried out in Manaus and the stretch blow moulding machines for this are installed at Jundiai. Although the company is geared to the major beverages bottlers, the smaller operations are not neglected. There are joint projects with selected firms that do not have sufficient knowledge of PET processing at their disposal. “In this way,” Ruben Melara went on, ”we are following a trend in the market, namely, the individu- alisation of smaller beverages companies through the medium of their product.” Machinery Preform production is carried out on Husky injec- tion moulding systems with cavities ranging from 48 to 144. Tendency is to focus all new investments in high cavita- tion moulds and top of the line injection machines. In the 2-stage stretch blow mould- ing machine sector, Sidel blow moulding machines dominate the current platform installed in Amcor Brazil.The single stage sector is covered by Nissei and Aoki injection stretch blow moulding machines. The PET resin is mainly supplied by local M&G opera- tion located in Suape. In response to the question as to whether BioPET is being processed or a proportion of recyclate, Ruben Melara responded that “we only process new product. BioPET (PET made from sugar cane) is what everyone wants, but the price difference in relation to PET resin is still too high. However, should we be required to use BioPET, then we are ready to convert.” www.amcor.com