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Aditya Birla Group to invest $500
million in Turkish VSF plant
The $35 billion Aditya
Birla Group has unveiled
its plans to set up a viscose
staple fibre (VSF)
plant in Turkey’s Adana
Organised Industrial Zone.
The world’s No.1 VSF
manufacturer, the group
proposes to invest $500
million over the next five
years to set up a 180 ktpa
fully integrated plant with
a captive power plant, CS2
plant and a sulphuric acid
plant. The VSF plant will
come up in two phases.
Mr. Kumar Mangalam Birla, Chairman, Aditya Birla Group
“In the VSF sector, we are reckoned
as a marquee group with over
21 per cent of the global market
share. For us, VSF is a core business.
Our aspiration is to significantly
ramp up our global market
share and our capacities by the turn
of the decade. Establishing a worldclass
plant in Turkey is a step in this
direction,” commented Mr. Kumar
Mangalam Birla, Chairman, Aditya
Birla Group.
Elaborating, Mr. K.K. Maheshwari,
Global Director of VSF
Business, said: “Currently, our
VSF manufacturing capacity is 750
ktpa. Our ambition is to raise it to
1.1 million tonnes by 2015. We
expect to commission our plant in
Turkey by early 2015. This capacity
in Turkey will primarily cater
to the textile industries here. Currently,
100 per cent of VSF used in
the textile and non-woven sectors is
imported. Turkey, I believe, is the
4th largest consumer of VSF in the
world. It is expected to become the
2nd largest consumer over the next
five years. So setting up the VSF
manufacturing facility here makes
immense sense. We have been
much encouraged by the Govern-
12 | The Textile Magazine jANUARY 2012