The supervisory board of Lenzing AG has approved the investment in a new Tencel fibre plant in the US. This goes after Lenzing, Heiligenkreuz (Austria) and Grimsby (UK), announced their expansion plans. Now, Lenzing plans to construct a state-of-the-art plant with a production capacity of 90,000 tons per year at its site in Mobile, Alabama. The new facility will be the largest Tencel fibre plant in the world that will set a new milestone in the history of lyocell fibres, the company reported.
The investment volume will be worth $293 million. The new plant will utilise latest technological standards and is scheduled to start in the first quarter of 2019. Currently the Lenzing Group has a worldwide production capacity of 222,000 tons per year of Tencel fibres. The new plant will increase capacity by more than 50 per cent by 2019. The decision to build the plant in the US was supported by good infrastructure at the Mobile site with attractive energy costs.
The implementation of Lenzing’s expansion program is essential for driving Lenzing Group’s organic growth agenda. Therefore, it was decided to create a new management board role, pooling together key technical, operational and engineering responsibilities.
