World's largest lyocell plant opens in Tailand

The Lenzing Group,the world’s leading supplier of wood-based specialty fibers,is pleased to announce the successful completion of its key lyocell expansion project in Thailand.The new plant,the largest of its kind in the world with a nameplate capacity of 100,000 tons per year,started production on schedule and will help to even better meet the increasing customer demand for TENCEL? branded lyocell fibers.For Lenzing,the project also represents an important step towards strengthening its leadership position in the specialty fiber market and into a carbon-free future.

The construction of the plant located at Industrial Park 304 in Prachinburi,around 150 kilometers northeast of Bangkok,started in the second half of 2019 and proceeded largely according to plan,despite the challenges arising from the COVID-19 pandemic.The recruiting and onboarding of new employees has been successful.Investments (CAPEX) amounted to approx.EUR 400 mn.

Pollution of the environment -especially marine pollution -is one of the biggest problems of our time.The fashion industry has an extremely negative impact on the environment with its fast fashion business model and the growing consumption of fossil resources.The lyocell production process is the most modern method for producing fibers from wood.It has been successfully applied on an industrial scale for about 30 years and is particularly environmentally responsible.The underlying idea of the lyocell process is to dissolve and process the pulp in a closed loop without any chemical derivatisation.

Lenzing will continue to expand its production capacity for lyocell fibers in line with its sCore TEN strategy,which aims to generate 75 percent of its fiber revenue from ecoresponsible specialty fibers such as TENCEL?,LENZING?ECOVERO? and VEOCEL? fibers by 2024.The Thailand site offers space for several production lines.The investment in the first phase already includes general infrastructure that would benefit future expansion.However,Lenzing will continue to look for opportunities to expand lyocell production in other parts of the world too.

In 2019,Lenzing made a strategic commitment to reducing its greenhouse gas emissions per ton of product by 50 percent by 2030.The vision is to be climate-neutral by 2050.Due to the established infrastructure,the site in Thailand can be supplied with sustainable biogenic energy and contribute significantly to climate protection.

Together with the key project in Brazil and the substantial investments at the existing sites in Asia,Lenzing is currently implementing the largest investment program in its corporate history (with more than 1.5 billion Euro.)Lenzing will continue to drive the execution of its strategic projects,which are to make a significant contribution to earnings from 2022.