Sateri starts-up 200,000 ton viscose plant

Hong Kong-headquartered Sateri Holdings has started production at its new viscose staple fibre (VSF) plant for nonwovens and textiles in Fujian, China.

The Sateri Fujian VSF plant consists of four identical production lines, each with an annual design capacity of 50,000 metric tons.

The first line commenced production in early December 2013 and has made good progress in terms of both production volume and product quality. The second line successfully started production a few days ago.

Both lines are expected to steadily ramp-up towards full production capacity over the next few months in stages. The remaining two production lines are currently undergoing testing and commissioning works and are expected to commence production in the coming months.

When fully completed, the total investment in the Sateri Fujian VSF plant is expected to be approximately US$550 million, which is in line with the company’s earlier estimates. When all four lines reach full production capacity, the Sateri Fujian VSF plant will add an aggregate annual capacity of 200,000 metric tons, bringing the company’s total capacity of VSF to 360,000 metric tons.

Sateri has a fully vertically-integrated business which enables it to achieve industry-leading margins and earnings that are more resilient to market volatility. Its upstream business in Brazil consists of a secure renewable plantation that grows eucalyptus trees sitting on 150,000 hectares of freehold land, and a state-of-the-art mill to produce high-purity dissolving wood pulp. Sateri’s downstream business in China consists of production facilities that use the dissolving wood pulp to produce viscose staple fibre to capture the fast growing consumer market demand seen in China.