Turkish petrochemicals group Petkim (Aliaga; www.petkim.com.tr) has set up a new subsidiary, Petkim Specialities Mühendislik Plastikleri Sanayi ve Ticaret, which will focus on producing and marketing products with a higher added value, specifically masterbatches and compounds.

Located at group headquarters in Aliaga, the subsidiary has been assigned Petkim’s existing 14,000 t/y engineering thermoplastics compounding capacity. It is not clear what types of compounds are currently produced but the Turkish company has announced a USD 5m investment to lift this particular output by 10,000 t/y. When the added capacity will be brought on stream was not disclosed.

Plasteurope.com’s Polyglobe capacity database (www.polyglobe.net) shows that Petkim operates a 350,000 t/y LDPE plant in Aliaga, which is also home to group capacities for 96,000 t/y of HDPE, 144,000 t/y of PP as well as 150,000 t/y of PVC.