Kara Holding to Manufacture Lyocell Fiber with a 400 Million Euro Investment
Ranking among Turkey’s top 500 industrial enterprises, Kara Holding will manufacture lyocell fiber, which is produced in only four countries in the world, at the huge factory to be built together with the foreign investors from Switzerland and Austria. With this production supported by a total investment of 400 million Euro, Turkey will dominate the market and close the trade deficit significantly.
The factory, which will be built in the Gaziantep Industrial Zone, will host an annual production capacity of 20 thousand tons in the first step. In the following stages, 40 and 80 thousand tons of production will be made gradually.
Tens of thousands of tons of lyocell fibers will be exported to many countries in the world, which will provide an annual foreign exchange inflow of 200 million Euro. Thus, this raw material needed by the Turkish textile industry, will be able to find cheaper lyocell fibers with a production of 10-12 thousand tons annually.
Speaking on this investment, Kara Holding’s President Bilal Kara said that “From now on, we will produce the raw material that we also use. No one produced lyocell fibers in Turkey. This investment of ours, which will be 200 million Euro in the first place, will grow up to 400 million Euro in the next process.”
The project, which requires a significant amount of investment both for the country and the region, has lasted five years; will be implemented by a joint company with partners from Turkey, Switzerland and Austria. Kara said that the 35% of the company’s shares are subscribed by the foreign partners.
Kara noted that the partners are the industry’s leading companies and added, “We are bringing in foreign capital to our city Gaziantep. We established a new company together with our foreign partners; we purchased the land and started the construction work. Our partners, who are specialized in lyocell fiber production are doing this business in Europe and China with their own companies. Now they are going to be in Turkey too.”
Pointing out that they will export fibers to all parts of the world from the United States to China, Kara said, “With our Swiss and Austrian partners, we are planning to make 200 million Euros of exports to the United States, Spain, and Brazil.”
Turkey to be among the top five
Reminding that Turkey will be the fifth country in the world producing lyocell fibers, also known as cellulosic fibers, Kara said that “I was working on a cellulosic fibers project for around five years. The main raw material for these fibers we will produce is wood. As it is a natural fiber, it is in high demand. Industrial trees from various countries of the world are being made pulp shaped. We will process these pulps into fibers.
There are three or four companies producing these fibers in four different countries around the world. With our investment, Turkey will be the fifth country. If it goes as planned, we’ll be in production in two years. We will help decrease imports, and we will also export.”
Kara Holding produces 100 tons of yarn, 25 tons of fabric, 50 tons of stretch film, 50 tons of children’s, women’s pads and wet wipes on a daily basis at the integrated facilities for textiles, nonwoven, plastic and energy sectors, and is exporting to 60 countries, mainly European countries.
