A fire at a PET plant is risking the water and soda market in Brazil as the production of bottles has been disrupted.
The fire on Indorama’s polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plant in Suape, Pernambuco, Brazil on August 14 has interrupted the operations of the 550,000 tpa PET capacity which translates into 60% of the country’s production.
There is still no certainty about when the Pernambuco complex should start running again, nor about the estimated volume of PET that the base in Brazil will eventually import from Indorama's international units to ensure supply domestic while production in Suape is deactivated.
The situation has caused great concerns for the country’s market players as in the second half of each year, demand for water and beverages bottled with PET is typically greater than in the first half. This condition is now being aggravated by the fact that Sao Paulo is facing the lowest level of rainfall in 91 years, which would almost certainly raise demand more than usual.
“We will probably have water shortages. If PET is missing, it will be a very complicated situation, not least because these packages are also used in food and cleaning products,” commented the president of the Brazilian Plastic Industry Association (Abiplast), José Ricardo Roriz Coelho.
