China continues to expand PET bottle chip capacity

China continues to expand its polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottle chip production capacity with producers Yisheng Petrochemical, China Resources and Wankai all having expansion projects close to completion.

Yisheng Petrochemical's 600,000 t/yr production lines at Dalian in north China's Liaoning province will finish construction this month and is targeting to start up late in this year's third quarter. Another 500,000 t/yr production line, next to an existing 1.5mn t/yr PET bottle chip plant in south China's Hainan province, will come on stream in early 2020. This will make Yisheng China's largest PET bottle chip producer by early 2020 with a total capacity of 2.6mn t/yr.

Zhejiang Wankai is expanding its presence to southwest China, by building a 600,000 t/yr PET bottle chip plant in Chongqing. It is scheduled to finish construction and come on stream in next year's first quarter. Its main feedstock purified terephthalic acid will be mainly supplied by Sichuan Shengda and Chongqing Pengwei.

China Resources aims to add another 500,000 t/yr production line in Zhuhai in south China's Guangdong province. This unit will probably start up in the fourth quarter giving China Resources total PET bottle chip capacity of 2.1mn t/yr.

Expansion of China's PET bottle chip capacity has speeded up from last year, with 1.7mn t/yr starting up in the second half of 2018. China will have 12.2mn t/yr of production capacity by the end of 2020 including the latest expansion projects.