Austrians invest $64 million in Transilvanian wood

Austrian company Holzindustrie Schweighofer plans to invest $64 million in a timber processing plant in Sebes, Alba County, which will create some 350 jobs.

The town in Transilvania this way becomes a centre for the wood processing industry. The investments in the field over the last few years exceed $250 million.

Holzindustrie Schweighofer estimates the plant will start production this year, but the peak will be reached in 2005, when the plant’s productive capacity will amount to 800,000 cubic metres of round wood a year. The raw material to be used consists in Carpathian fir and spruce fir logs. The plant will take up 35 ha.

According to the information published on its website, the company estimates to post 100 million euros annual turnover. The production of the Sebes-based plant is mainly meant for export, especially to Japan, but also to other 30 countries of the world. The targeted markets for Schweighofer are Asia, US, Middle East and Europe.

Also in Sebes, the Italian group Frati invested some $180 million in building two plants, which are to produce materials used for furniture production – MDF boards and particleboard.

Analysts say the two companies will not compete with each other, on the contrary, they will collaborate, considering part of the residues from the timber plant can be used for the production of boards.

The wood processing industry has attracted significant foreign investments in the last few years, mainly from several leading international companies in the field, such as Losan (Spain) and Werzalit (Germany, which invested in timber plants in Brasov and Lugoj or the Finnish Finnforest that built two plants in Calarasi and Comanesti. bogdan.neagu@zf.ro