Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals (MRPL) has dispatched the first consignment of 'Mangpol', polypropylene pearls manufactured at its unit here.
Prahlad Joshi, chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Petroleum and Natural Gas, flagged off the first consignment yesterday.
The unit here could meet the annual demand for the product in South India which was five lakh tones annually, he said.
The annual demand for polypropylene, a thermoplastic polymer used in the production of various items for sectors including automobiles, textiles, packaging, labelling and stationery, is around 30.7 lakh tonnes in the country, MRPL said in a statement.
The MRPL had a production capacity of 4.40 lakh tonnes of the polymer in a year.
MRPL Managing Director H Kumar said said the commercial production of Mangpol would enable the refinery to a revenue growth of Rs 3,000-4,000 crore at its current price in the global market.
Automobile industry is one of the biggest user of polypropylene, Kumar said, adding, the plastic manufactured using it enables to produce lighter vehicles, which in turn results in enhanced mileage.
