PETpla.net Insider 04 / 2015

EDITOUR REPORT 17 PET planet insider Vol. 16 a favourable rate of interest which, in the event of liquid- ity problems, can be deferred without payment for up to three years. This is something that could well, however, lead to a change in the market situation once repayments are resumed. Any consequential shift into export could trigger such a situation (according to SGT) because the costs are too high and the difficult political circumstances in some of the neighbouring countries are too uncertain. In my discussions on the Algerian market, however, PTD established that export business is a logical and important step which incorporates potential for the whole of the north African region. Also, a small number of companies that are in receipt of government support will be affected to a lesser extent by Alge- ria’s poor customs image (which is often regarded as complicated, slow and bureaucratic) if they have received customs conces- sions for (e.g.) engaging in projects that create local added value and jobs. Basically, Algerian converters would need to invest in even more high- performance technol- ogy in order to increase capacities further. Should they wish to supply neigh- bouring states, at the moment capacities are insufficient to be able to do so. And this is not only true of preforms. Alge- ria’s good quality water would also be of interest for this market. Provided that border openings and exports are possible in the future – and it is precisely this possibil- ity that PTD considers a probability in the highly foreseeable future. The company estimates that a consumption rate of 300,000 tonnes in the coming 5-6 years is emi- nently realisable provid- ing there are no political crises. According to PTD, the neighbouring states have so far still not done much in the injection moulding sector and the amount of high-quality products, manufac- tured on state-of-the-art machines, represents an advantage as far as the Algerian injection mould- ers are concerned. New directions for PET in Morocco All that separates the state of Morocco in the north west of north Africa from Europe is the Straits of Gibraltar. The country is divided into 16 regions made up of a total of 61 provinces and with an area of around 446,000 km² (exclud- ing the section of the West Sahara controlled by Morocco). Morocco borders the Mediterranean in the north, the Atlan- tic to the west, the West Sahara to the south and Algeria to the east. The high mountain ranges of the High Atlas, where the Jabal Toubkal mountain, at a height of 4167m, is Morocco’s highest peak, extend from north east to south west. At present the population comprises some 33.2