Big scope for FDY, IDY in India: Oerlikon meet

In synthetic fibres, Indian market has high potential mid-term for FDY, IDY and staple yarns, which might have been also due to the slowdown in the Chinese economy, said Michael Korobczuk. “There is no change in the strong consolidation in China’s man-made fibre market. The new 13th Five-Year Plan with the 3-phase concept confirms two years of slow-down. India and Bangladesh are open for new staple fibre projects. In the 13th Five-year Plan, China intends to focus on New Fibre Materials, Intelligent Manufacture, Green Manufacture and Brand Build-up and Quality Improvement,” Korobczuk said, during his presentation at the Oerlikon Man-Made Fibre Seminar held at Silvassa very recently.

The seminar was part of the Oerlikon Man-made Fibres Customer Meet, held at the Treat Resort in Silvassa. All the top brass of Oerlikon including Georg Stausberg, CEO, Dr Wolfgang Ernst, Sales Director, and Andre Steingass, Regional Sales Director were present. From the Oerlikon India Office, Managing Director, Bhanu Patel, Senior Sales Managers, Chetan Bhagat and D Ghosh were present apart from others.

In his presentation on “Recycling Solutions for Yarn Production”, Dr Ernst Wolfgang, Sales Director, talked at length about PET recycling, which is the most common polymer in man-made fibres and which has become the major raw materials for bottles. Huge amount of bottles lying around is a big source of raw materials for recycling, which has the advantages of image (eco sells), legal implications and economic aspects, the last factor being that recycled materials are much cheaper than virgin goods.

The worldwide polyester production is 75 million tonne per year, and main applications are bottles, fibres and films. The worldwide PET bottles collection amounts to 8.2 million tonne per year and China alone is processing over 50 per cent of the collected bottles, said Wolfgang. More than 500 billion PET bottles are collected worldwide every year, but the recycling amounts to less than 50 per cent. The welcome speech was by Georg Stausberg, Oerlikon CEO in which he stressed the importance of the Indian market and explained why a few days ago, Oerlikon inaugurated a Customers Service Centre in Vadodara in Gujarat. This was followed by two presentations by Dr Ernst Wolfgang, Sales Director – one on “Recycling Solutions for Yarn Production and the other on “OMF Customer Services.” Next cam an impressive presentation by Andre Steingass, Regional Sales Director based in Homg Kong on “Innovative DTY Solutions.”

In the second session, Gerrit V Loenen and Tilan Reutter delivered a presentation on “Latest Developments for PSF and BCF.” This was followed by Jochen Adler’s “Melt to Yarn — Bringing Technology to Market.” Michael Korobczuk, Vice President, gave his impromptu speech on “Latest Market Scenario Worldwide.” Then there was a very interesting Question & Answer Session.