Joint Venture Expands PET Production in China

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Researched by Industrialinfo.com (Industrial Information Resources, Incorporated; Houston, Texas). Changzhou Worldbest Radici Company Limited (CWRC) (Changzhou, China), a joint venture company formed by Radici Group (Bergamo, Italy) and China Worldbest (Shanghai, China), will invest approximately $200 million during the next three years to expand their production capacity of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) in Changzhou, China.

The initial phase of the expansion will be complete this month and increase PET bottle-grade resin production capacity from 80,000 metric tons a year to 120,000 metric tons a year. The next expansion will be in 2003, with plans are to raise the capacity to 270,000 metric tons a year. In 2005 a new PET production line will be installed at Changzhou brining the total site production capacity to 420,000 metric tons a year. Process technology for the new production line will be provided by Noyvallesena (Bergamo, Italy), a subsidiary of Radici Group.

CWRC was formed in 1996 and is the third largest PET chip producer in China with an ISO 9002 and 14001 rating. CWRC's PET chips are used in packaging bottles for water, carbonated drinks, fruit juices and edible oils. CWRC's product contains no odor or smell and claims that their product is more environmentally friendly than competitor's products.