OCTAL Doubles Production and Establishes New Factory

With the new facilities, the annual capacity can be more than doubled to 927,000 tons. The demand for the first "green" plastic sheet DPET, in particular, is extremely high.

Nov 18 2011 --- OCTAL, the biggest producer of high grade plastic sheet worldwide is currently establishing the third and the fourth production building in Salalah, Oman. Full production should start in May 2012. With the new facilities, the annual capacity can be more than doubled to 927,000 tons. The demand for the first "green" plastic sheet DPET, in particular, is extremely high.

"The production of plastic bottles has exploded in the course of only 20 years. Back then approximately one million tons were produced, compared to more than 15 million tons today. On top of this, we now have the innovative DPET technology that is unrivalled worldwide and much in demand in the European, American and Asian markets. It goes without saying that we have to expand our capacity considerably as we convert PET sheet in new applications such as dairy and other food packaging." That's how OCTAL CEO Nicholas Barakat commented the background of the 150 million euros investment.

Currently, production buildings number three and four are being built on an area of more than 10 hectares in Salalah, Oman. Works are going according to plan, and full production should start in May 2012. While approx. 400,000 tons of high grade plastic sheet and resin are produced at present, another 527,000 tons can be turned out by the new factories. "Thus, our annual capacity is more than doubled to 927,000 tons. OCTAL will also further extend its technological leadership position as the biggest plastic producer worldwide. Therefore, we'll invest on a global basis another 600 mill. euros or so in the next five years", Nicholas Barakat announced.

International demands are especially high for DPET, the first "green" plastic sheet worldwide developed by OCTAL. Apart from featuring the lowest carbon footprint, this material also affords significant resource savings during production. By cutting five particularly energy-intensive production processes 67% less current and 20% less gas are needed. Therefore, renowned manufacturers and food processors in Europe, America and Asia seek cooperation with OCTAL and order correspondingly high amounts.

Established in 2006 by private and institutional investors in Oman, OCTAL is the biggest manufacturer of high grade plastic sheet and resin worldwide. These special sheets are used for packaging of consumer products, fruit and vegetables, bakery products, meat, or dairy products. The sales market is equally divided into three between Europe, the USA and Asia. Currently, OCTAL has approx. 400 employees, expecting a turnover of some 400 mill. euros for this year. Next year the globally active enterprise will more than double its turnover to approx. 1 billion euros and build new production facilities. To further extend the technological leadership role another 600 million euros will be invested in the next five years.