AV Birla group plans $350mn projects in Laos

The Aditya Birla Group today announced an investment of $350 million in Laos for setting up a project to raise pulp wood and a pulp plant for its viscose staple fibre (VSF) business.

Aditya Birla Group companies - Grasim Industries, Thai Rayon Public Company based in Thailand, and Indonesia-based PT Indo Bharat Rayon - will invest in the project as equity holders.

The group has acquired 50,000 hectares of land from the government of Laos on lease for 75 years. Eucalyptus plantations, which would be raised on the land, would provide the feed for the pulp plant. The project is to be implemented in two phases - first the plantation phase and second the setting up of the dissolving pulp plant - given that Eucalyptus plantations normally have a growth cycle of seven years.

The commissioning of the pulp plant would coincide with the harvest of the first plantation, i.e. the 7th year. The pulp produced in Laos would be exported to the group's rayon fibre manufacturing units in India, Thailand and Indonesia as well as new locations.

Kumar Mangalam Birla, chairman of the Aditya Birla Group, said: "This integrated plantation and pulp plant project with a capacity of 2,00,000 tonne per annum (TPA) is a forward step, planned ahead of time to ensure that our future expansion needs are met."

The Aditya Birla Group's seven pulp and fibre plants span India, Thailand, Indonesia and Canada with a collective capacity in excess of 7,75,000 TPA.