Quarter-on-quarter volume growth will come from high capacity utilisation in Lithuania and expansions coming on stream in the US and Thailand, the company said in a statement.

"IRP feels confident of our future performance with major expansions nearing completion. Further, raw-material prices for PTA [pure terephthalic acid] and MEG [monoethylene glycol] are lower with crude prices coming down. IRP has become the only PET-polymers producer with plants in the three continents of Asia, Europe and North America, which together constitute 90 per cent of global demand," the company said.

The group has major expansions nearing completion which will commence operations in the first half of 2007 and add around 200,000 tonnes per annum to existing capacity.

The first expansion project, at StarPet, a 100 per cent-owned subsidiary in the US, will expand capacity to 225,000 tonnes per annum. The operation for expanded capacity will start in early March and will service the growth in demand in the North American market.

Meanwhile, IRP in Lop Buri is expanding capacity of PET polymers to 180,000 tonnes per annum to serve the growing demand in the domestic market, captive consumption in downstream operations of Petform, regional markets and export markets. The plant installation is in progress and will be complete in early May.

UAB Orion Global PET, a wholly owned subsidiary in Lithuania, commenced production in the fourth quarter last year and has reported profits for the first quarter of operations. The plant is operating at full capacity and has been able to penetrate the European market to sell its production of PET polymers. The plant capacity is 198,000 tonnes per annum. The global demand for PET polymers is estimated at around 13 million tonnes and continues to increase by 8-9 per cent per annum, IRP said.

The growth in demand is coming from existing and new applications. Water continues to be a high-growth segment. Small pack PET bottles for packaging of carbonated soft drinks is growing and replacing aluminium cans as use of PET is more cost-effective.

"IRP has the largest market share of PET polymers in Thailand and will be the leading manufacturer of PET polymers in the world on completion of announced projects and expansion with total capacity of 603,000 tonnes per annum," the company said.

Last year, IRP posted Bt925 million in net profit, against Bt861 million net profit in 2005. The consolidated net profit also increased to Bt784 million, from Bt772 million in the corresponding period, despite a stronger baht.