Huhtamaki has announced the expansion of flexibles packaging capacity in Asia. Huhtamaki will build a new production facility in North India and add a new production line to the recently opened plant in Vietnam. The combined value of these investments is EUR 20 million.
"We want to optimize Huhtamaki's manufacturing structure and actively seek growth in emerging markets. Today about 15% of our net sales comes from emerging markets. We carefully monitor the development of the market and have now decided to add further capacity in two countries: India and Vietnam," states CEO Heikki Takanen from Huhtamaki.
In India Huhtamaki already has four facilities with 1,300 people producing mainly flexible packaging for food and non-food sectors. The building of the new facility will start in the last quarter of 2005 and commercial production is planned to commence in mid 2006. The facility will supply premium flexible packaging and labeling systems to major customers in North India.
Huhtamaki opened its Vietnamese facility last year. It supplies flexible packaging for food and non-food sectors. It is situated close to Ho Chi Minh City and employs over 160 people.
"We are on track with our original plan for Vietnam which included a staged ramp-up of production capacity. Sales are progressing according to schedule and include a mixture of local and multinational customers. The new production line is expected to be in commercial production within the second quarter of 2006", says Tony Combe, Executive Vice President, Asia-Oceania-Africa from Huhtamaki.
Huhtamaki Group is a leading manufacturer of consumer and specialty packaging
with 70 manufacturing and sales units in 36 countries worldwide. In 2004 the net
sales of the group amounted to EUR 2.1 billion and it currently employs 15,500
people. The parent company, Huhtamäki Oyj, has its Head Office in Espoo, Finland. Its shares are listed on the Helsinki Stock Exchange.
For further information please contact:
Mr Heikki Takanen, Chief Executive Officer, Espoo, Finland
Tel: +358 9 6868 8301
Mr Tony Combe, Executive Vice President, Asia-Oceania-Africa
Tel: +61 2 9708 7400