Ahlstrom Completes Expansion Project In Korea
Finland-based Ahlstrom Corp. recently celebrated the inauguration of a second production line and a new impregnation line at its Hyun Poong plant in Korea.The Hyun Poong plant, established in 1987, is part of Ahlstrom’s FiberComposites division. The company said the new investment enables the Hyun Poong facility to manufacture both filtration media and nonwovens for the growing Asian market. Its existing production line will continue to serve the filtration market.According to Ahlstrom, both filtration and nonwovens markets offer promising growth opportunities for the company. The market opportunity for filtration media and nonwovens reaches approximately 15 billion euros.Ahlstrom said the filtration market is estimated to grow approximately 5 to 6 percent annually, with the fastest growth expected in South America and Asia. The company’s filtration sales volumes increased by 7.5 percent in the first half of 2004. In the global nonwovens market, Ahlstrom currently ranks fifth, but its plan is to move up to the top three.Jukka Moisio, president and CEO, said, ”Many of our customers are expanding their operations geographically and Ahlstrom aims to serve them on a global basis. This new production line in the fast-growing Asia Pacific region will help us achieve that.”
January/February 2005