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(ICIS) -- The fate of Lotte Pakistan PTA’s
(Lotte PPTA) investment to expand its purified terephthalic acid (PTA) capacity
to 1.5m tonnes/year in the country depends on the government’s decision to
increase import tariffs to protect the industry, a company executive said over
the weekend.
The company, which has a 500,000 tonne/year plant in Port Qasim, located
50km (31 miles) outside the industrial port city of Karachi, is planning to
spend up to $500m (?375m) on the expansion, Asif Saad, the CEO of Lotte PPTA,
earlier told ICIS.
Pakistan’s Board of Investment (BOI) earlier this year requested the
company, the only PTA maker in the country, to submit a proposal to undertake
the expansion, according to Saad.
Lotte PPTA wants the import tariffs should be benchmarked with countries
where PTA production and demand are growing, and that have similar industry
structures. The PTA tariff in the EU is at 6% and the tariff in China is 6.5%,
while India’s tariff stands at 5%, Saad said.
mrcplast.com
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