Greenply to invest 4 mn euros to scale up Africa plant

Kolkata : One of India's largest interior infrastructure company Greenply Industries will invest four million euros to nearly triple the capacity of its Africa plant in Gabon by 2019, an official said on Tuesday.

The Gabon veneer manufacturing facility that was set up with an initial investment of 11 million euros will get the fresh infusion to scale up its processing capacity from 3,000 cubic metre (cbm) per month to 8,000 cbm by March, 2019.

The facility, located at the NKOK Special Economic Zone and spread over an area of 10 hectares, manufactures Okoume face veneers with thickness ranging from 0.2mm and upwards.

"We are constantly working on capacity building and securing resource availability. The company plans to scale up its processing capacity with an additional investment outlay in the tune of 4 million euros," Managing Director Rajesh Mittal said.

The company, commanding a 26 per cent market share in the organised plywood market of India, has targeted to hit a capacity utilisation of 55 per cent by the end of this financial year and full utilisation by the financial year 2020-21.

Okoume timber is considered to be a sustainable and economical solution to restore the ecological imbalance created by widespread deforestation of Gurjan trees, which form the primary source for face veneers of the Indian plywood industry, the company said.

The plywood firm is also involved in saw milling of Okoume and other hardwood species. Presently the species of hardwood being used are Padouk and Tali.

It also plans to start its own forestry operations in 2019 to augment its raw material supplies.