Lenzing invests in production sites in China, Austria
25 Mar 2010
Lenzing, Austria – Cellulose products maker Lenzing Group is expanding the capacity of its fibres production facility in Nanjing, China, and downsizing and modifiying its sites in Lenzing to produce more high-value product. The projects complement a Euro120m capacity expansion programme launched in December 2009.
Production capacity will double at the Chinese site to 140ktpa under a Euro55m investment to come on stream within two years. Another Euro23m, meanwhile, is being spent on the Lenzing site to switch production from standard viscose to modal fibres within the next 15 months.
“The value of the Lenzing site as the world’s biggest producer of special cellulose fibers will grow - and doubled capacity at the Nanjing site will meet the fast-growing demand for standard cellulose fibers in Asia,” said Peter Untersperger, chairman of Lenzing.
The expansion in China and the full operation and subsequent debottlenecking of the fourth line at the Indonesian subsidiary PT. South Pacific Viscose(SPV) due for May will raise Lenzing’s Asian production capacity to 378ktpa, equivalent to half of Lenzing’s global fibre capacity.
With the new investment programme Lenzing’s fibre production will increase to about 770ktpa, with a further viscose fibre production site being planned in India.
There are several reasons for expanding modal capacity and downsizing viscose capacity at the Lenzing site, explained Friedrich Weninger, director of the group’s fiber business.
“Modal has very much turned out to be a global export success over the past years, particularly in Asia,” said Weninger, noting that the project will develop and secure our special fibre strategy for the Lenzing site.
“Integrated pulp production there enables optimized and decisive control of the production quality parameters from beech to fiber required for special fibers and the site’s expertise in modal production spans decades. Moreover, remodeling will be comparatively fast and cost-efficient,” he concluded.
