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Growth in speciality films boosts profits at Treofan


BOPP film specialist Treofan boosted profits by more than 20% last year, on the back of sustained growth in speciality film.


The Germany-based


company reported an EBITDA of €38 million (compared with €32m in 2015), on the back of stable sales volumes (157kilo- tonnes of material, against 155kT the year before). The company says that is


has now doubled profits in two years – and expects further improvement this year. Walter Bickel, CEO, said the


main reason for the profitabil- ity was its transformation into a speciality film producer. “We want to become the


leading specialist for innovative surface solutions, so we’re


Bickel: “We want to become the leading specialist for innovative surface solutions”


increasingly developing innovative integrated solutions in collaboration with partners across the value chain,” he said. Speciality films now account for 72% of the sales volume, up


three percentage points from 2015. The company plans to raise this to 75% in 2017. One recent example is its hybrid film, HybraPack – which combines paper and BOPP film, and was jointly developed with paper manufacturer Feldmuehle Uetersen. It is aimed at stand-up pouches, and was recently demonstrat- ed at Interpack. This year, the company signed its first major deal with a Chinese battery manufac- turer for TreoPore micropo- rous separator film, which is used in lithium-ion batteries such as in the growing market for electric vehicles, with the option of turning this into a long-term supply partnership. ❙ www.treofan.com


New plant for American Packaging


American Packaging Corporation will create up to 260 new jobs by building a new flexible packaging plant in New York state. According to a report in


Rochester Business Journal, the company is investing $170 million in the 350,000 sq ft facility in Monroe County. The new jobs will be


created over the next five years, said the company. The plant is expected to start up by the end of this year.


At the same time, the


custom flexible packaging company plans to maintain its nearby Rochester plant, and its 170 employees. ❙ www.ampkcorp.com


Iranian plastics set for post-sanction growth


Iran’s plastics processing industry is one of the largest in the Middle East and has excellent prospects for growth following the lifting of certain economic sanctions in January 2016, according to Applied Market Information (AMI). AMI, the publisher of Film & Sheet Extrusion, has just published its first Database of Plastics Processors in Iran, providing information on more than 300 processing sites in the country.


It says that many compa-


nies have been doing the groundwork for economic expansion since 2015. Iran has a population of


www.filmandsheet.com Percentage of polymer used per process in Iran


struction and rigid packaging markets. AMI reports that vehicle


construction is expected to grow strongly from its current annual capacity of about 1m. The sector accounts for only 2% of polymer demand in Iran at present, but around 10% of GDP.


Similarly, there are strong Source: Applied Market Information 2017


more than 80 million people and improving GDP growth. It is the second largest regional market for polymers as a whole, at just over 3m tonnes/


year, and also the second largest for engineering thermoplastics. The country also has strong domestic automotive, con-


prospects for rigid packaging, which currently accounts for near 20% of polymer demand, as a result of predicted growth in organised retailing and supermarket shopping. Industrial packaging demand is also expected to rise. ❙ www.amiplastics.com


June 2017 | FILM & SHEET EXTRUSION 5


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