Rigid films manufacturer Klöckner Pentaplast (KP, Montabaur / Germany; www.kpfilms.com) has announced it will invest EUR 6m to expand polyester films production in Newport / UK. Completion of the state-of-the-art extrusion line, which has a capacity of 8,000 t/y, is targeted for July 2014, with the creation of 15 new jobs. The output will primarily be used in food and consumer packaging applications.

This is the latest addition to KP’s global expansion programme for 2013 and 2014, which will see a total investment of EUR 45.6m and 142 employees added worldwide. The programme includes projects in China, Portugal and Brazil – see Plasteurope.com of 08.11.2012. In July, KP opened its first production facility in China. The plant in Suzhou produces 6,600 t/y packaging films for the domestic and Asian markets where demand for shrink-sleeve films is growing at double-digit rates. This spring also saw the start-up of KP’s polyester films expansion in Santo Tirso / Portugal, where 8,000 t/y capacity was added.

In Cotia, Brazil, start-up of the extra laminating and coating output is now scheduled for December. The PVC calendaring expansion project is now planned to go online in June 2014, with matte calendaring capacity due onstream in November 2014.