Through its subsidiary, Flex P Films Egypt, Indian packaging film manufacturer Uflex (Gautam Budh Nagar, Uttar Pradesh; www.flexfilm.com) is planning to build a PET production plant at the Egyptian petrochemical site, Ain Sokhna. The plant with a capacity of 360,000 t/y is to be built in the SIDC Industrial Park. The investment is reportedly around USD 110 mn (EUR 100 mn), with this being the first ever PET production facility for the film manufacturer.

The project is to be implemented in two phases. Phase one is scheduled to start operations in the first half of 2024, while phase two is expected to be implemented by mid-2025. More than 700 jobs are to be created at the site.

Since 2011, Uflex has been operating a production facility for BOPP and polypropylene cast films, and PET films near Cairo. The total capacity is 114,000 t/y, plus post-processing capacities for metallisation. The PET pellets produced in Ain Sokhna should therefore mainly supply the PET film production near Cairo. The rest is intended for the domestic market and for export, Sanjay Tiko, executive director of Flex Egypt, is quoted as saying. The European market is likely to be one of the main targets, and Uflex might also want to supply BOPET film production in the Emirates.

Related: Uflex to construct new plant in Russia

According to Plasteurope.com’s Polyglobe database (www.polyglobe.net), Thailand’s Indorama Ventures has so far been producing PET at a capacity of 540,000 t/y in Egypt – at the same site as the one now planned by Uflex. This would increase the current output in the country by about two-thirds.

In principle, according to PIE’s price team, PET exports also regularly flow to Europe. Here, however – for PET bottles and other packaging made of PET – increasingly higher use quotas for recyclates are in the offing from 2025 onwards, for example as a result of the packaging act in Germany or the new EU packaging regulation, which in turn could reduce the demand for virgin material.

With sales of more than USD 1.75 bn and more than 10,000 employees, Uflex produces films and flexible packaging. Flex Films is the global film production division of Uflex with a production capacity of more than 510,000 t/y worldwide. Its BOPET, BOPP, and CPP films are supplied to customers worldwide in the food, cosmetics, pharmaceutical, and non-food sectors.