Alpek to close PET facility in Fayetteville, North Carolina

Mexican petrochemical company Alpek S.A.B. de C.V. recently announced it will cease operations at its Cedar Creek facility in Fayetteville, North Carolina, by July 31. A Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN) filing by the company May 29 claims the closure will affect 90 employees.

The site, operating as Alpek Polyester USA LLC, was acquired by Alpek in 2001 and has an installed capacity of 170,000 tons of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) resin and approximately 35,000 tons of recycled PET flake production per year.

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In a news release announcing the facility closure, the company says the decision is aligned with its long-term strategy to optimize its global footprint and focus on its more “competitive and scalable assets.” Alpek says it will reallocate its production to continue serving its customers with high-quality products and sustainable solutions by leveraging its regional and global network.

“Through this optimization, which is part of Alpek’s cost reduction strategy initiatives, the company will be able to generate approximately $20 million in annualized savings on a run-rate basis, effective by 2026,” the company says. “This reinforces Alpek’s long-term vision to solidify its core business and strengthen its financial position.”

The facility closure is the second in the U.S. announced by the company within the last six months. In November 2024, Alpek announced that its subsidiary, Styropek, would cease production at its BVPV Styrenics LLC facility in Monaca, Pennsylvania, affecting approximately 140 workers. The site was built in the 1940s and acquired by Alpek in 2020, with an installed capacity of 123,000 tons per year of expanded polystyrene (EPS).

When it announced the closure last fall, Alpek said it would transfer most of its EPS production to its other facilities.

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In all, Alpek operates 34 plants across nine countries and produces virgin resins, such as PET, EPS, polypropylene (PP), and purified terephthalic acid (PTA), along with recycled PET pellets and flake. Including the soon-to-close facility in Fayetteville, Alpek operates eight facilities in the U.S.—five of which produce recycled resins.