Manufacturer and marketer of polyester products Wellman, Inc. has announced the successful start-up of its new PET (polyethylene terephthalate) resin line at the company’s Pearl River facility located in Hancock County, Mississippi. The new line, which has a stated annual capacity of approximately 300 million pounds, began initial shipments to customers in early June.

This expansion increases Wellman's capacity at its Pearl River facility to approximately 860 million pounds and increases its total US PET resin capacity to approximately 1.6 billion pounds, making Wellman the largest PET resin producer in the US. Wellman also has approximately 120 million pounds of PET resin capacity at its Emmen facility in the Netherlands.