Lotte Chemical UK Ltd (LCUK) has received board approval to expand its Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) production at its Wilton site in the UK. The UK Government Department for Business Innovation & Skills has confirmed that LCUK has been successful in its bid for Regional Growth Fund support. LCUK will build a 200 kte pa plant alongside its existing 150 ktpa PET plant, which will be operational in Q3/4 2013. This expansion will allow LCUK to produce a wider range of PET products, including resins with recycled PET. The project has received support from parent company KP Chemical of South Korea.
Lotte Chemical UK Ltd (LCUK) is pleased to announce that the project to expand
Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) production at its Wilton, UK site has been given
LCUK Board Approval. In mid April the UK Government Department for Business
Innovation & Skills (BIS) confirmed officially that Lotte Chemical UK Ltd had been
successful in its bid for Regional Growth Fund support and received a conditional
offer of funding for this project, with parent company KP Chemical Of South Korea
also granting its support in early summer.
LCUK will build a 200 kte pa plant at the Wilton Site, alongside it's existing 150 ktpa
PET Plant (M5) to be on line in Q3/4 2013. The addition of a new line will underpin
the capacity of the co-located T8 PTA Plant and facilitate LCUK’s move into a wider
range of PET products including resins incorporating post consumer recycled PET.
Mr SY Huh, KP President, said that this move clearly demonstrates KP’s ambition to
be one of the leading global players in PET, an integral part of the Lotte Group vision
which sees it being an Asia Top 10 Global Group by 2018. LCUK CEO, Mr NY
Lee confirmed that the project will represent a remarkable turnaround in the
fortunes of the Wilton based business. ‘It is only 18 months since Lotte purchased
the assets and we restarted the business after over 8 months in administration.’ He
continued, ‘we are proud to be part of the global growth strategy of the Lotte
Group.’
Local MP for Redcar and Cleveland, Ian Swales, MP offered his support and said “This
new plant is great news for the area. The government is committed to encouraging
the manufacturing industry and inward investment on Teesside. Their support in
giving the project significant capital investment through the Regional Growth Fund is
a great example of them doing just that.”