Lenzing in big expansion push

HTT Staff -- Home Textiles Today, 12/16/2010 12:44:57 PM

Lenzing, Austria - Cellulose fiber manufacturer Lenzing - supplier of Tencel and Modal fibers, among others - is planning to expand its production capacity by 25% with building projects in Austria, Indonesia, China and the U.S.
The strategic plan includes:
• Building the company's first industrial-scale plant dedicated to Tencel fibers in Lenzing, Upper Austria;
• Expanding the Tencel production site in Mobile, Ala. to increase annual production capacity to approximately 50,000 metric tons;
• Constructing a fifth production line with Indonesian subsidiary PT. South Pacific Viscose to increase total capacity to 325,000 metric tons by 2013;
• Increase the capacity on the second production line at Lenzing's Nanjing, China, to 140,000 metric tons by mid-2011.
"The structural changes in the global textile fiber market, which are characterized by a tendency towards rising cotton price levels and an ever-increasing volatility of cotton quantities, as well as the increasing demand for man-made cellulosic fibers in nonwovens, lead us to continue to expect strong demand for Lenzing fibers over the next years," said Lenzing ceo Peter Untersperger.