The Indonesian subsidiary of Lenzing AG, PT. South Pacific Viscose (SPV) has started up first successful trials of its new fourth production line. Regular operation is expected to commence in the course of the second quarter. The new line will produce viscose fibres for textile applications and for the nonwovens industry. Production is intended for the domestic Indonesian market, as well as for export.

A total investment of about USD 150 million makes the construction of the fourth SPV line the biggest individual investment project of the Lenzing Group in recent years. Until now, a total of more than USD 500 million have been invested into SPV. The project took 18 months to complete, with key components supplied by Lenzing's subsidiary Lenzing Technik.

The additional 60,000 tons of nominal annual capacity of this jumbo line, boost total SPV capacity to 220,000 tons of viscose fibre per year, maintaining SPV's position as the leading Asian and the world's second-biggest viscose fibre production site after Lenzing in Upper Austria with its annual capacity of about 255,000 tons. SPV's sales are set to exceed USD 400 million in the next few years.

The overall production capacity of the Lenzing Group with fibre production sites in Austria, Indonesia, China, UK and the United States will for the present be increased to about 670.000 tons of cellulose fibres.

Due to the strong demand for Lenzing fibers, a further de-bottlenecking program will be started at SPV along with the start-up of regular production. This will increase SPV's total annual capacity by another 18,000 tons to 238,000 tons.