Eastman sees progress, PET

At a meeting with analysts in New York City last week, Eastman Chemical CEO Brian J. Ferguson touted the firm's financial progress, highlighting a 30% reduction in debt and a 130% increase in operating income since the beginning of the year. "Eastman is hitting on all cylinders," he said. Ferguson noted that construction of a 350,000-metric-ton-per-year polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plant in Columbia, S.C., is on schedule for completion in the first quarter of 2007. The plant is based on Eastman's IntegRex technology, which eliminates the solid-state step in PET manufacture. The company says it is considering another IntegRex-based PET plant in North America to open in 2009.