Page 26 - Plastics News March 2017

FEATURES

India may turn into net PE exporter

- Veena Pathare
India’s domestic PE capacity will increase by 2.01m tonnes by mid-year and the expected increase
in India’s overall PE capacity is higher than its recorded total PE imports of 1.88m tonnes

ndia may turn into a net exporter of polyethylene (PE)
Iin the second half of 2017, as the country will welcome
hefty new capacities in the western state of Gujarat,
market sources said on Thursday. The possible target
export markets are China, Turkey, Africa and south east
Asia as India’s domestic PE capacity will increase by 2.01m
tonnes by mid-year, they said.
Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) is expected to start up a low
density PE (LDPE) unit and a linear low density PE (LLDPE)/
high density PE (HDPE) swing plant in Jamnagar by the
end of the first quarter; while ONGC Petro additions Ltd
(oPaL) is due to commence production at its two LLDPE/
HDPE swing plants in Dahej in the first half of the year. the polymer until late last year, when a domestic cash
oPaL's stand-alone 340,000 tonne/year HDPE unit in Dahej crunch prompted PE producers to tap the export market
had an initial start-up in December 2016, with on-spec to offload inventory.
production achieved in January. By the second half of the year, however, India’s PE capacity

Company Location PE capacity Start-up will have outpaced domestic demand, making exports
schedule necessary for its local producers, market sources said.
oNGC Petro Dahej, two 360,000 H1 2017 PE Grades 2016-17 2015-16 2014-15
additions Gujarat tonnes/year (Apr-Nov) (Apr-Mar) (Apr-Mar)
Ltd (oPaL) LLDPE/HDPE
swing lines; HDPE film 469.7 588.31 551.88
one 340,000 ('000 tonnes)
tonne/year LLDPE film 326.4 581.38 544.81
HDPE unit ('000 tonnes)
Reliance Jamnagar, 400,000 end-Q1 2017 LDPE film 446.61 708.19 616.79
Industries Gujarat tonne/year ('000 tonnes)
Ltd. LDPE unit; Total PE imports 1.24 1.88 1.71
550,000 (in million tonnes)
tonnes/year
LLDPE/HDPE PE products would most likely be marketed into Asia,
swing plant particularly China, which has a strong demand for the
material, the Indian producers had sounded off at the
The expected increase in India’s overall PE capacity is
higher than its recorded total PE imports of 1.88m tonnes Plastivision 2017 held in Mumbai in January. “We are
in the fiscal year ending March 2016. looking to export PE into Asia, as the production that is
slated to come up in the first half of the year is more than
The country, which has a current PE capacity of more what the Indian market can absorb at this point in time,”
than 3m tonnes/year has always been an importer of a source at a key Indian producer said.

Plastics News | March 2017 26