News

Middle East materials supplier Octal Holding hopes to shake up APET supply to the global packaging industry following a £150m ($300m) investment in production facilities in Oman.

Octal can produce a sheet with +/- 1% tolerance, which it believes will improve growth in a sector that has suffered from "a lack of reliable capacity and inefficiencies in the manufacturing process". The investment will add an extra 300,000 tonnes of capacity.

Managing director Nicholas Barakat said: "Polyester has so far not delivered the cost advantages to be able to take full advantage of it, but we have the customised technology to become the absolute low-cost producer. Tonne per tonne, we can get more packaging out of the material."

Octal started operating in late 2006 with 20,000 tonnes of capacity, and a further 10,000 tonnes came online this month. It expects to add a further 300,000 tonnes by next June, following the opening of its new facilities.

The company is a venture between US private equity firms Chemlink Capital and Pound Capital and businesses in the Middle East. It said Oman is the ideal location because it can supply any part of the world within 18 days.