DAK Americas Announces Fiber Capacity Increase

CHARLOTTE —  DAK Americas LLC has announced an increase in its polyester staple fiber (PSF) capacity of 230 million pounds per year (lbs/yr) to meet growing demand in the Americas. The new fiber capacity will be installed at DAK's Pearl River site in Bay St. Louis, Miss., with a project start-up in the second half of 2016.

"DAK is proud to expand its trade leading fiber offerings for low, mid and high tenacity fibers engineered for textile and nonwoven applications," said Mark Ruday, vice president, DAK Americas Fibers Business Unit.

Production will focus on lower denier (< 3.0 denier) fibers, but will have the capacity to produce fiber products from 0.9 to 9.0 denier.

"DAK's ability to utilize considerable infrastructure currently in place at its Pearl River Site, provides us with a unique opportunity to grow our fiber capacity and meet customer demand with a very competitive investment," said Jorge Young, DAK president and CEO. Furthermore, "the new fiber facility at the Pearl River site geographically strengthens DAK's ability to supply PSF across the Americas with a second U.S. fiber manufacturing location and places DAK in a good position to service the growing Mexico fiber market."

The project will create 86 new full-time positions including operations, maintenance, technical and management roles on-site. DAK recently completed a PSF expansion (announced October 2014 ) at DAK's facility near Charleston, S.C., adding 27 million lbs/yr of PSF capacity. Upon completion of the Pearl River site fibers expansion, DAK's total PSF sales capacity in NAFTA will be approximately 700 million lbs/yr. The Pearl River site will continue to produce high quality Laser +^® PET resins in support of customers in the region.


About DAK Americas LLC and Alpek, S.A.B. de C.V.

DAK Americas (www.dakamericas.com), headquartered in Charlotte, NC, is wholly owned by Alpek, S.A.B. de C.V. of Monterrey, Mexico. DAK Americas is comprised of five business units: Polyethylene Terephthalate Resins (PET), Polyesters Staple Fibers (PSF), Monomers/ ingredients (TPA/PTA), Specialty Polymers and Green Polyester. DAK is one of the largest integrated producers of PET resins in the world and the main producer of polyester staple fibers in the Americas. DAK is focused on the future with numerous Sustainability initiatives across its businesses.

About Alpek, S.A.B. de C.V. (Alpek) 

Alpek is the largest petrochemical company in Mexico and the second largest in Latin America. The company operates two business segments: “Polyester” (PTA, PET and polyester fibers), and “Plastics & Chemicals” (polypropylene, expandable polystyrene, caprolactam, and other specialty and industrial chemicals). Alpek is a leading producer of PTA and PET worldwide, the largest expandable polystyrene manufacturer in America, and the only producer of caprolactam in Mexico. Alpek also operates one of the largest polypropylene facilities in North America. In 2014, Alpek reported revenues of U.S. $6.5 billion and EBITDA of U.S. $434 million. The Company operates 21 plants in the United States, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina and Chile, and employs approximately 5,000 people. Alpek is a publicly traded company listed on the Mexican Stock Exchange.


Source: DAK ©