Toray Industries, Inc. (head office: Chuo-ku, Tokyo; President: Akihiro Nikkaku; hereinafter referred to as “Toray”) announced today that it and subsidiary Toray Carbon Fibers Europe S.A. (head office: Abidos, France; President: Bernard Martin; hereinafter referred to as “CFE”) on September 26 held a ceremony to mark the completion of construction of the new carbon fiber raw material (precursor) plant at CFE's Lacq plant. The ceremony was attended by about 230 guests led by Japanese Ambassador to France Yoichi Suzuki and officials from French government agencies and municipalities as well as those representing the carbon fiber industry.
The completed precursor plant is part of Toray Group's investment plan announced in March 2012 to expand carbon fiber production capacity at its four global production sites in Japan, U.S., France and South Korea. The new CFE plant is the third precursor production base at the Group following Japan and the U.S. It enables CFE to move on to an integrated production, switching to precursor produced at its own plant from the material imported from Japan, which will boost its cost competitiveness. CFE will also supply various Toray Group production bases including Toray Advanced Material Korea Inc., contributing to the group-wide business expansion.
The worldwide demand for PAN-based carbon fibers expanded to exceed about 40,000 ton in 2013 and is expected to continue to grow at a rate exceeding 15% a year. In addition to the high performance regular tow carbon fiber TORAYCA®, Toray in February 2014 acquired Zoltek Companies, Inc. and made a full entry into the large tow carbon fiber business, enabling it to respond to growing demand by supplying products that meet various market needs.
Toray Group aims to further expand its carbon fiber composite material business through active investment of management resources as one of the businesses supporting the growth strategy under the medium-term management program Project AP-G 2016.
The profile of CFE is as follows:
