MONTREAL -- Selenis Canada Inc. plans to add about 250 million pounds of annual PET resin capacity at its plant in Montreal East, Quebec.
The added capacity is expected to come on line in early 2014, and will increase the site's total capacity to just over 570 million pounds.
In the past two years, the firm has introduced a range of PET products in Canada and the U.S., company officials said in a Jan. 24 news release. In the last year, Selenis Canada "has progressively increased its market penetration and capacity utilization, and is now currently operating at near full capacity," the release said.
Selenis Canada was formed in 2009 when Portuguese investment firm IMG Group bought a dormant plant that had made polytrimethylene terephthalate — a specialty resin — from PTT Poly Canada LP.
PTT Poly had been a joint venture between Shell Chemicals Canada Ltd. and the government of Quebec. IMG converted the plant to PET production, making its first commercial shipments in April 2011.
The expansion will increase PET supply in a market already considered to be oversupplied. Italy's M&G Group also is planning a major new PET plant in Corpus Christi, Texas, that would have 2.2 billion pounds of annual resin capacity when it opens in 2015 or 2016.
North American PET demand growth is expected to be in the low single digits for the next few years, as thinner beverage bottles and reduced carbonated soft drink consumption has affected PET use. Market insiders have said that older resin plants in the region may have to be shut down to prevent even greater oversupply.
