PETpla.net Insider 11+12 / 2017

MATERIALS / RECYCLING PET planet Insider Vol. 18 No. 11+12/17 www.petpla.net 15 or direct spinning of pre-purified poly- ester textile waste applying extrusion, melt filtration, re-polycondensation and pelletising/spinning. Yu Zheng , Sales Engineer of Sorema div. of Previero N. SRL introduced the new delabelling technology either situ- ated as a pre-washing stage or prior washing as a dry delabeller. The new technology promises an optimisation in pre-washing and in downstream sorting stages. Stewart Hardy, Global Manager – Petrochemical Market Dynamics of Nexant Inc. summarised his view on the market development with his contribu- tion “Upstream Developments and the effect on rPET”. He characterised the PX-situation as “China’s PX import requirement will remain a significant element of demand, but does not leave room for new exporters in other regions” and “The proposed build is enormous, but proportionally less than what occurred on PTA” and the conclusion “The scale of the build in China is stifling developments in other regions”. The PTA situation is summarised as “China became the most challenging PTA market, and saw the greatest volume of closures”, by which he was referring to small, uneconomical production units. On the development of MEG, Nexant stated “Operating rates and margin out- look on MEG is relatively healthy despite the planned new plants” and “Asia and US have replaced the drop in new capacity growth in the Middle East”. The development of the rPET industry under the new regulations is summarised in the following headlines:  Import restrictions such as “Green Fence” and “National Sword” will continue to restrict availability.  Draft legislation suggests raw PET waste (bale) imports may be out- lawed altogether.  Clampdown on recyclers without adequate water treatment etc. pushes up the cost of rPET flakes in China.  The lack of Chinese buying inter- est pushes down rPET bale prices in Europe, Japan, and the US etc. supporting local demand.  Growth in the Chinese PET market and therefore domestic rPET supply has slowed.  Lower PX costs will support PET selection against other materials, but growth in the beverage market will remain slow. In Conclusion : rPET availability will remain short in China. The ongo- ing pressure on prices as loss of PX and ethylene margin feeds through PTA and MEG to virgin fibre. The raw bale prices supported by restrictions on imports results in slow growth in the domestic PET market. The Revival of interest in garment production in developed regions (Zara etc.) could stimulate flake demand for rPET in other regions to support “closed loop” initiatives in the West. The rPET industry will need to adapt to a fur- ther significant drop in virgin polymer prices. Cao Wenting , product manager of CCFEI outlined in her contribution “rPET Market Structure under New South Hall · S21085 German Technology Policies” the expected severe impact of import policy changes. But her analysis began by speculating that: “The market is abuzz with rumours ranging from a ban on imports of post-consumer bottles all the way to a complete ban on all solid wastes” and she gave a list of some of the cur- rently officially published statements, announcements and policies. She summarised the development of rPET industry thus:  Capacity shrinking: The limitation on imports, the squeeze on mar- gins and low profits will certainly lead to a shrinking of the capacity of rPET fibre.  Extend the industrial chain and move to other production: Extend the industrial chain upward to lower the costs for enterprises.  Elimination, integration, relocation: Low-profit products will be elimi- nated, and high-profit products are likely to face consolidation. Partial enterprises will probably go abroad.  Industrial upgrading: High-priced raw materials need to be trans- formed into high-value products. In the 13 years of the existence of this conference, never before had discussions revolved so completely round the issues of the likely impact for the industry of the proposal to prohibit the import of foreign waste and the reform of the solid waste management system. This will certainly provide food for thought which we will be exploring in our next conference in 2018. www.polyester-technology.com