|
I have been overseas for the last week and there were some important announcements just before I left and while I was away. Many of you will have already caught up on them, but I provide links for you just in case:
1) DAK Americas announces a polyester staple expansion of 230 million lbs per year at its Pearl River Mississippi plant. Read article here...
AKC Note: The site was originally built by Wellman Inc., but purchased by DAK in 2011. The original plan was for 2 lines of PET resin plus 1 line of staple fiber. The staple line was never run in full commercial production as Wellman exited the staple business. During DAK's ownership all 3 lines have been producing PET resin. The plan is for 1 of the lines to be converted back to staple and the remaining 2 lines will continue to produce PET resin. The expansion project will have a total capacity of 105,000 tons per year, with initial commercial production planned for late 2016. Production will be focused on fine denier products mainly of less than 3 denier, but will have the capacity to go from 0.9 denier to 9 denier. The site is a major producer of polyester and has all the infrastructure in place required for the staple expansion. It is estimated the plant will add 86 jobs to the current workforce. The plant location will allow easy servicing of both the U.S.A. and Mexican markets.
2) Shaw Industries announces an expansion of BCF capacity at its Columbia, SC plant. Read article here...
AKC Note: The equipment appears to be flexible so that it can run either polyester or nylon, but the announcement confirms that the polyester BCF will include the use of rPET feed. The plant is to start up later this year, the machinery having been ordered some time ago. Shaw receives its rPET flake from Clear Path Recycling in Fayetteville which is a joint venture between Shaw Industries and DAK Americas. Production is due to start later this year, indicating that the equipment was ordered some time ago.
3) AR Textiles (owned by Sunflag of Kenya) is investing $12 million in a spinning plant in Robersonville, NC. Read article here...
AKC Note: We believe this is the 8th new spinning plant announced in the U.S.A. in the last 2.5 years together with a number of other investments in expansions at existing facilities. All the new plants are being built by non U.S.A. owned companies. Most of these plants will focus on cotton spinning as U.S.A. cotton is very competitively priced. Unfortunately, U.S.A. polyester staple is priced very uncompetitively due to very high polyester raw material prices in the U.S.A.
Alasdair Carmichael
Carmichael International
PO Box 3444
Spartanburg
SC 29304
T: 864 583 6868
C:864 542 4481
News Update is a service of Carmichael International designed to provide relevant up to date information on the textile markets. We aim to provide links to information and some commentary which is provided in good faith as to its accuracy. Carmichael International however disclaims any and all liability and responsibility for information supplied and any decisions that may be made on the information.
| 
