Preform manufacturer LuxPET (L-4940 Bascharage; www.luxpet.com), increased production by 25% in 2004 to 1.3 bn units. As a result, the company, part of the Schoeller Wavin group, now Schoeller Arca Systems), (NL-7700 AB Hardenberg; www.schoellerarcasystems.com), – see this Plasteurope.com issue –, lifted sales by 15% to EUR 53m. Some 50% of turnover came from the German market. Luxpet is also pleased with earnings, managing director Mathieu Haels told PIE. These were higher than expected, even if high raw materials costs could not be passed on to customers in full, and margins thus deteriorated significantly in the year´s final months. Production lines were operated at around 90% of capacity, not least because the company won more than 15 new customers. LuxPET has 53 employees, almost double the size of the 2002 workforce.

One of the aims of the self-described low-cost producer with high quality demands is to raise preform production in 2005 to at least 1.5 bn units. Raw materials consumption would then exceed 50,000 t for the first time. This is to be achieved not only by extending the portfolio; the company also sees good prospects to win new customers, mainly in France and The Netherlands. After concentrating on Germany in the recent past two years, LuxPET has now “discovered” these two other neighbouring countries, said Haels. In The Netherlands, the shift from returnable to non-returnable bottles has encouraged consumption of PET, and the company hopes to supply a large proportion of this new demand.