The Hindu Business Line : RIL petrochem exports to China to touch $700 m

RELIANCE Industries Ltd will export petrochemicals worth $700 million to China this year. The country's largest petrochemicals major will export close to $5 billion worth of petrochemicals, used to produce plastics, in 2004-05, said the Executive Director, Mr Nikhil Meswani.

RIL's export earnings will be up around 92 per cent from $2.6 billion last year. Mr Meswani said India will consume 12.5 million tonnes of polymers by year 2010 making it the world's third largest polymer consumer.

Mr Meswani told reporters on the sidelines of Chemtech 2005 seminar that the petrochemical business will record double-digit growth in the coming year but declined to make any forecast for RIL's growth.

He, however, said that RIL's German acquisition Trevira would have increased its share in the European market to 11 per cent from 9 per cent within four months of RIL acquiring it.

RIL became the world's largest polyester yarn maker when it acquired the synthetic fibre maker Trevira from Deutsche Bank in June last year for 80 million euros (around Rs 440 crore).

Mr Meswani said that RIL will also take advantage of research undertaken by Trevira for its production unit at Patalganga. Trevira possesses several valuable patents, technologies, and know-how.

Mr Meswani said the Indian petrochemicals business needed investments worth $14 billion to add processing machines by year 2012.

He said the business needed consolidation of small fragmented processing capacities. A strategy followed by RIL when it acquired the 80,000 tonnes a year S.M. Dyechem glycol unit last month.

He told reporters that the now-shut SM Dyechem unit would be commissioned within the next three months. The unit will continue using alcohol-based molasses as feedstock.

In his keynote address, Mr Mukesh Kackar, Joint Secretary (Petrochemicals), Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilisers, said that for every 0.7 million tonne of incremental growth in polymers, the industry contributes Rs 16,000 crore to the Indian economy.

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