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 Oman-based Octal Petrochemicals [www.octal.com] is targeting US$500 million in sales in Europe and further international expansion, it was announced today, following its successful debut at the world’s largest packaging exhibition.
 
“Interpack Processes and Packaging 2008”, which ran from April 24-30 in Dusseldorf, Germany, welcomed 2,744 exhibitors and a total of 179,000 visitors. Octal received hundreds of visitors from all over the world during the week-long show and will take part in the next Interpack in 2011, company officials said.
 
Octal’s global sales team conducted negotiations with more than 50 global buyers of PET (polyethylene terephthalate) resin and amorphous PET sheet – and have confirmed strong sales leads with at least 15 top consumer brands from Europe and North America, and 10 of the biggest ‘convertors’ (companies which turn plastic into packaging products). The show also generated significant investor interest.
 
Commenting on Interpack 2008, Octal board member Rashid Saif Al Sadi said: “The target we set in February for PET and APET sales into Europe was US$200 million per annum. But the excellent response we’ve seen at Interpack means we can be even more ambitious – and it’s clear that our integrated business model has struck a chord with the world’s biggest consumer packaging companies.”
 
Octal Managing Director Nicholas Barakat said: “With the oil price near US$120 a barrel and spiraling food prices, the cost of packaging is becoming a critical concern to volume-driven consumer brands. Octal aims to be the largest polyester company based in the world’s lowest cost centre. That was the message at Interpack and the biggest buyers of PET and APET want to partner with us to develop their packaging strategies.”
 
Barakat said: “By collapsing the value chain through integration on one site, and by producing polymer products of superior quality, Octal is providing a solution for global companies which use packaging as a main tool of their businesses. Octal is making a massive statement in the downstream plastics industry, a development which is a great advertisement for Oman and Oman industry.”
 
Joe Barrenberg, COO of Octal based at its US sales office in Dallas, Texas, said: “We’re seeing tremendous synergy between how we operate as a business and the needs of customers. Customers want to build relationships with materials companies to help them innovate better packaging and pull through advanced technology, and they understand that packaging is an increasingly important marketing tool to attract customers and build brands. Octal is positioned to serve these demands seamlessly and act as a packaging partner rather than simply a supplier.”
 
Octal recently announced plans to increase capacity in PET resins to 800,000 metric tons by May 2010, making it one of the world’s largest polyester producers. Production at its new integrated facility in Oman’s southeast city of Salalah will start in July and reach 330,000 metric tons per annum in capacity by March 2009. Around half of the capacity will be in PET resin and the rest in APET sheet.

Octal’s pioneering DTS (direct to sheet) technology involves producing PET resin on site and then making amorphous PET sheet directly from the melted resin. Conventional APET production requires energy-intensive and expensive drying and melting of granular PET or ‘chips’, and the final product has lower optical and mechanical properties than Octal’s integrated APET sheet.
 
Nicholas Barakat, MD of Octal Petrochemicals, said: “We’re creating scale in APET to allow industry to convert wholesale to clear rigid packaging. The companies we’ve seen at Interpack understand that this is potentially a 10 million ton market, one which Octal will lead.”
 
Packaging and packaging materials was the second largest segment at Interpack 2008, attracting 50 per cent of visitors. Commenting on the enthusiastic response of exhibitors, Wilhelm Niedergoker, Managing Director of Messe Duesseldorf GmbH, said: “We have been able to harness the upbeat mood in the run-up to the event and convert it into a basis for closing business deals.”
 
Based at Salalah Free Zone, Octal Petrochemicals’ integrated PET and APET sheet production plant is being built at an initial cost of US$300 million. Total investment on the site is set to rise to as much as US$1.2 billion upon completion. Net exports are expected to reach US$1.1 billion by 2011.

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