Mukesh Ambani owned Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) on Wednesday announced that it had commenced implementation of its planned world-scale projects in India across the polyester chain.
Termed as company’s largest capacity expansion in the sector, it is aimed at consolidating its position as the world’s largest integrated polyester producer.
In a statement issued here, the company said that global supply constraints, substantial price increase and uncertain outlook for cotton availability is creating considerable substitution opportunities for polyester products like Polyester Filament Yarn (PFY) and Polyester Staple Fibre (PSF).
It is expected that polyester will capture around 80 per cent of incremental global fibre demand of around 2.9 million tonnes per annum over the medium to long term. Demand for Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET), which is already India’s fastest growing polymer is also poised for exponential growth due to continued demand in the bottling, packaging and food and beverages sectors.
RIL plans to set up 2.3 million tonnes of purified terephthalic acid (PTA) plant at Dahej (in Gujarat) with the ability to increase it by another 1.15 million tonnes of PTA at a later stage. The plants will be integrated with its Paraxyline plants at Jamnagar for raw material.
The company's plans include two a 395,000 tonnes of polyester filament yard (PFY) and 140,000 tonnes of polyester texturised yarn at Silvassa in Gujarat. Also, it will set up a 540,000 tons polyethylene terephthalate (PET) at Dahej with the option to an equal size plant at the same location at a later sate.
Reliance may start the first PTA plant at Dahej in first quarter of 2013 and the second one 6-12 months later. The new PTA volumes would feed the company's downstream polyester investments at Silvassa.
