Sigdo Koppers Installs Modern BOPP Plant in Argentina
December 26 , 2005
Sigdo Koppers, the Chilean holding has announced that Sigdopack S.A., one of its subsidiary companies will install a modern plant for the manufacturing of biaxially-oriented polypropylene film (Bopp) with a capacity of 37,500 Ton /annum in the locality of Campana, province of Buenos Aires. This new investment of the holding will reach approximately US $ 50 million.
Sigdopack started its operations in 1997 and currently manufactures 31,500 Ton /annum of biaxially-oriented polypropylene film at its facilities located in Santiago-Chile, where it will soon initiate the operation of a new of 5,000 Ton /annum plant of biaxially-oriented nylon film. Along with the new plant in Campana-Argentina, the overall biaxially-oriented film production will reach 74,000 Ton /annum.
Biaxially-oriented polypropylene films area utilized extensively in manufacturing flexible packaging for food and diverse types of labels, whereas, biaxially-oriented nylon films are used in flexible packaging applications which require high mechanical resistance as well as high oxygen barrier properties.
The new investment in Argentina will allow Sigdopack to increase its market share position in the Mercosur region, the latter being the largest BOPP market in Latin America. Moreover, this will enable to company to strengthen its position in the rest of its regional markets, especially in Peru and in Ecuador. In addition, the launching of the new plant in Campana will allow the company to also increase its exports to the US and to Europe.
The use of biaxially-oriented polypropylene films in the world has increased significantly over the last 10 years, this being especially the case in the Latin American region where it has reached an average growth rate of approximately 10 % per year to an estimated market size of 310,000 Ton / annum in 2005. Despite the growth rates attained in the Latin American region, the BOPP film consumption per capita is still well below the capita consumption level of developed countries, thus it is expected a sustained demand growth rate over the next decade.
In Latin America, the key growth factors attributed to the increment in BOPP film demand are associated with the increase in population which has systematically become part of the consumption chain of packaged foods, the progression of food sales through supermarkets and the substitution of other substrates such as paper by BOPP.
The start-up of the new plant in Argentina is estimated for mid 2007.
The Sigdo Koppers holding is one of the most prestigious business groups in Chile with subsidiaries in Chile, Argentina and Peru. The holding's well diversified businesses are in the areas of engineering and construction, production of explosives for the mining industry, manufacturing of electric appliances, railroads, solid bulk ports, representative car-dealership distributions, equipment & machinery and in the production of biaxially-oriented films for flexible packaging. Moreover, the holding's overall sales and services reach customers in the Latin American, North American, European and in the Asian markets.
