At its headquarters production site in Adana, Turkey, Aschem (www.aschem.com.tr) intends to expand its production capacity for polystyrene. In the course of the next year, available output is to be increased by half to 75,000 t/y, sales manager Emrah Emekli told Plasteurope.com at the K 2022 (www.k-online.de) plastics trade fair in Düsseldorf, Germany.

Besides supplying the Turkish market, additional quantities are also intended for export to Europe, especially as European producers have taken more and more capacity out of the market in recent years.

According to PIE’s Polyglobe database (www.polyglobe.net), the European market (excluding Russia and Turkey) has capacity of just under 2.2 mn t/y for polystyrene. The last time capacity was reduced on the market was when Ineos Styrolution converted one of its PS lines in France to ABS production (see Plasteurope.com of 03.02.2022).

Aschem was founded in 1998 and started PS production in Adana in 2000. In 2018, EPS production was added with a capacity of 35,000 t/y, which Emekli says will also be increased in the next few years.