PETpla.net Insider 09 / 2019

EDITOUR PET planet Insider Vol. 19 No. 09/19 www.petpla.net 16 Upward trends and opportunities for PET Returning briefly to the milk market, material manufacturer Reliance Indus- tries says that PET packaging used for milk and dairy products, including ghee (which is packaged in PET jars) currently accounts for around 1.2-1.5 % of all PET used in India; this figure is expected to grow by 10% annu- ally. If one considers the huge share that pouches have in this segment – around 29 billion units sold in 2018 1 and with average growth of over 5% total consumption. Approximately 6% of PET resin in India is used in APET sheet, strapping, injection moulding, monofilaments and masterbatches. The current installed capacity for material production is 2 million tonnes per year. The biggest private company in the country, Reliance Industries, manufactures 1 million tonnes, while IVL Dhunseri Petrochem Industries, the local base of Indorama Thailand, makes approximately 700,000 tonnes. Another 150,000 tonnes of PET are imported, mainly from China. Both Reliance and IVL Dhunseri plan to counter import levels with growth. The industry is expecting a steady rate of PET growth of 8-10%, with the growth market of eastern India expected to grow by as much as 15-20% as stated by visited companies such as e.g. Epitome and Indoplast from West Bengal state. According to Reliance, between 2018 and 2019 the magic threshold of one million tonnes of PET consumption in India was breached; the domestic market in India reported a growth rate of 13% in 2019 (financial year ending March 2019), compared with the previous year. 1 Figures by Market Research Com- pany Euromonitor International since 2016 1 , it becomes clear that we are looking at a correspondingly large potential for PET, one that is yet to be tapped. Although single-serve, PET- packaged milk products have been established on retail shelves for some time, sales volume figures have not yet been independently audited by the well-known research companies, due to a lack of volume. The “PET-pack- aged milk” description includes fresh, flavoured and UHT. In the non-bottle applications of PET, APET (amorphous PET) lids are being used selectively for some ice cream brands, as its embrit- tlement temperature is the lower than other polyolefins and styrenics that have been used. The proportion of PET in beverage packaging for water, CSDs, fruit juices, alcoholic beverages, hot beverages and syrups as meas- ured by retail sales was 46% in 2018 1 , more than 15% higher than the figure for 2017 1 . The strongest growth in the sector was recorded by water, with almost 20% 1 . In a direct comparison with total PET consumption, the bever- age packaging component accounts for an estimated 50%. This includes water, CSD and fruit juices. The major- ity of the preforms and bottles manu- factured on the market, approximately 60%, are now lightweight. In non-food areas, such as personal care and health care, we can also assume that PET accounts for some 15-20% of Retail units (Source: Market Research Company Euromonitor International)