Oerlikon Barmag Huitong Engineering (OBHE), has signed a comprehensive cooperation agreement with Köksan Group, one of the leading PET producers in Türkiye, for a Continuous Polycondensation (CP) production capacity of 400,000 tons per year. This will accelerate the global expansion of the Köksan Group's production capacity.
As part of this comprehensive cooperation agreement, Köksan will invest a high triple-digit million Chinese Yuan amount in the coming years. The new plant will be in the Yangkou Chemical Industrial Park, Rudong County, Nantong, China. Köksan will be setting up its plant with a production capacity of 2.2- million-tons-per-year green polyester new materials for the packaging industry. The first phase of this project has now been officially launched. Production is scheduled to start in mid-2026.
“We are convinced that this investment will be a major step for our company's future. It is our first investment in China and one of the largest industrial investments by a Turkish company in this area of industry in China. Upon the completion and full operation of this project, Köksan will become one of the global giants in polyester production for the packaging industry” said Murat Kökoğlu, CEO of Köksan. “We are very pleased that Köksan has chosen our innovative CP technology. This is further proof of our capabilities in the field of polymerization technologies” said Zhong Ming, General Manager of Oerlikon Barmag Huitong Engineering.
Latest CP Technology from Oerlikon Barmag Huitong Engineering
The project adopts the advanced five-reactors process and tailor-made equipment of Barmag’s joint venture partner OBHE. Using purified terephthalic acid (PTA) and ethylene glycol (MEG) as raw materials, it produces high-viscosity chips through the direct esterification and continuous polycondensation process technology route. Combined with Köksan's experience & knowledge, high-quality bottle-grade polyester chips are finally obtained.
As one of Türkiye’s leading companies in the PET and plastic packaging sector, Köksan exports to more than 100 countries and maintains its investments abroad. Köksan is an international investor with operations in China, Senegal, Libya, and Iraq. After over 50 years of development, the company has realized a diversified development model integrating chemical production and processing, logistics, warehousing, international trade, hotel and real estate development.
About Barmag
Since 2025, the Swiss Oerlikon Group has continued its manmade fiber business as a subsidiary under the traditional name Barmag. This includes the established product brands Oerlikon Barmag, Oerlikon Neumag and Oerlikon Nonwoven. As a future-oriented company, research and development are focused on energy efficiency and sustainable technologies (e-save).
Barmag is one of the leading suppliers of filament spinning systems for man-made fibers, texturing machines, BCF systems, staple fiber systems and solutions for the production of nonwovens. Together with its range of polycondensation and extrusion systems and their key components, Barmag thus covers the entire manufacturing process - from monomer to textured yarn - and supports it with customer-oriented engineering services. The product portfolio is rounded off by automation and digitalization solutions. In addition, Barmag offers high-precision gear metering pumps for the textile industry and other sectors, including the automotive, chemical and paint industries.
The main markets for the Barmag product portfolio are in Asia, particularly in China, India, Turkey and the USA. Barmag employs around 2,500 people worldwide and is represented by production, sales and service organizations in 120 countries. In the research and development centers in Remscheid, Neumünster (Germany) and Suzhou (China), highly qualified engineers, technologists and technicians develop innovative and technologically leading products for the world of tomorrow.
Oerlikon (SIX: OERL) is a global leader in surface technologies. Headquartered in Pfäffikon, Switzerland, the Group has over 12,000 employees at 199 locations in 38 countries with sales of CHF 2.4 billion in 2024.
Further information at: www.barmag.com
About Oerlikon Barmag Huitong Engineering (OBHE)
OBHE focuses on providing complete plant engineering solutions for textile-grade PET, bottle-grade PET, film-grade PET, r-PET, PBAT/PBS, PETG, PBT, PTT, TPEE polymers, PA6 and supporting businesses. OBHE also offers customized engineering complementation plant based on customer's process package. With over 30 years of engineering experience, OBHE has developed various advanced and mature polymer production technologies with remarkable core advantages and increasing global competitiveness. The company is one of the world's leading polymerization technology companies.
