Having neglected polyester all these years in its quest to become a dominant player in oil and gas, Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) is now according priority to scale up its
polyester manufacturing capacities to cater to growing demand.
RIL on Wednesday announced commencement of its planned implementation of world-scale projects in India across the polyester chain. This is RIL's largest capacity expansion in the sector and is aimed at consolidating its position as the world's largest integrated polyester producer. RIL chairman Mukesh Ambani had last year laid out the roadmap for this massive expansion.
"These investments in
new polyester capacity will also strengthen India's position as a global manufacturing hub for textiles and fibre," RIL said in a statement.
The 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) and RIL wants to tap this potential.
"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," RIL said.
Demand for polyethylene terephthalate (PET) is also poised for growth due to rising demand in the bottling, packaging and beverages sectors. RIL said with its strong manufacturing presence in India and Malaysia, cost leadership position and wide product range, it is uniquely positioned to benefit from this market growth.
The planned capacity expansions include 2.30 million tonnes capacity of PTA at Dahej with a provision to increase it by another 1.15 million tonnes at a later stage, 395,000 tonnes of PFY and 140,000 tonnes of polyester texturised yarn capacity at Silvassa, 540,000 tonnes of PET at Dahej with the option to add 540,000 tonnes of PET at the same location at a later stage and 290,000 tonnes of PSF at Dahej.
Courtesy: Mail Today 
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