Cypriot moulder Retal to invest up to $24m in US site

Photo by Retal Industries Ltd. Group Retal Industries Group's operations in the Czech Republic.

A Cypriot plastics packaging producer plans to establish a US base in Donora, Pennsylvania.

Retal PA LLC intends to invest at least $15m (€13.5m), or as much as $24m (€21.5m), in the project. Parent company, Retal Industries, injection moulds high density polyethylene lids and closures and PET preforms, and blow moulds PET bottles.

Retal bought a 143,000-square-foot facility in Donora in April for $4m (€3.5m), according to a local newspaper report. The facility was a former Spartech plastics compounding plant that was closed a few years ago after PolyOne bought Spartech. Retal reportedly has a contract from an unidentified US company that begins in October.

“Establishment of a new regional headquarters is a massive undertaking for any company,” noted Retal PA President and CEO Admir Dobraca in a news release issued by Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf’s office.

“We are excited to report that our progress thus far has been substantial. We couldn’t be more pleased with the location we’ve carefully selected in Pennsylvania and with the generous assistance we received from [Pennsylvania] and the support from the local community, the county and the greater Pittsburgh area in general. We have great plans for this site and hope that this is the beginning of a much larger venture.”

The Donora operation will employ 88 over the next three years.

Retal Industries Group was founded in 1993. It has numerous subsidiaries in Europe and Cyprus. Retal PA in turn is a subsidiary of Retal Cyprus Ltd. European sites include Czech Republic, Lithuania, Ukraine, France, Italy, Spain, Germany and Bulgaria. Retal Industries’ web sites indicate that in addition to HDPE caps and bottles, the company molds PET film and produces resin.

The Retal PA project is the first one announced for the region since Shell Appalachia LLC said in June that it wants to build an ethylene/polyethylene complex near Monaca, Pennsylvania.