The EC has approved grant aid of E28.13m towards Dow's PET facility at Schkopau, Germany

The EC has approved grant aid of E28.13m towards Dow's PET facility at Schkopau, Germany

The EC has approved grant aid worth E28.13m towards the cost of Dow’s new PET facility at Schkopau, Germany. The aid will provide 23.4% of the estimated E120m cost of the 175,000tpa plant, which will be located alongside an existing unit.

The aid was approved under the EU framework for regional investment aid for large investment projects. Saxony, where the former East German chemicals site of Schkopau is located, qualifies for regional aid of up to 35% for large projects.

The EC examined whether PET is a declining market and concluded that after experiencing growth of 17% between 1997 and 2002 and a projected figure of 9.7% in value over the 2004-2007 period, it was not. The new Dow plant will lead to the creation of 36 direct jobs and of 49 indirect ones in the assisted area.

The US group received DM10bn (E5bn) of aid from the German government in the late 1990s to support its takeover of the Schkopau site, now one of its major European production centres. PET, polystyrene, LLDPE and polypropylene as well as engineering polymer Questra are all manufactured there.