The Board of Directors has today approved the plan to construct a new production facility in China. The new plant will be constructed in Tianjin, approximately 150 km from Beijing in northern China. The ROCKWOOL Group already operates a factory close to Guangzhou in the southern part of the country.
The plant is expected to be ready end 2014 and will have a capacity of more than 120,000 tonnes of stone wool insulation annually. The plant will be equipped with one single production line and have world class technology as well as environmental performance. The investment is expected to total around EUR 110 million.
Commenting on the expansion, ROCKWOOL Division Managing Director for East Division Theo Kooij said: “We have seen a good sales development since we acquired the Australian company CSR’s insulation activities in southern China in 2010. So far the majority of our sales have gone to industrial insulation. With the new plant in the northern part of China, we can now target the promising market for building insulation which has the potential to become the biggest in the world over time. High-rise buildings, where fire safety is a serious concern, stand out as a promising segment for our non-combustible insulation. The national and regional authorities in China are now expressing a high interest in improving the fire safety of insulated buildings.
In 2011, sales in Asia accounted for 5% of total Group sales, and this share is expected to grow in the coming years. China is the Group’s biggest single Asian market. In Asia, the Group also operates stone wool plants in India, Thailand and Malaysia.
