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The Textile Magazine
SEPTEMBER 2011
Aditya Birla Group
stepping up
viscose staple fibre capacity
corporate news
Starting as a textiles man-
ufacturer in 1948, Grasim
Industries Ltd. of the Aditya
Birla Group is today the
world’s largest producer of
viscose staple fibre (VSF),
a biodegradable fibre with
characteristics akin to cot-
ton. An extremely versatile
and easily blendable fibre,
VSF is widely used in ap-
parels, home textiles, dress
material, knitted wear and
non-woven applications.
Mr. Kumar Mangalam
Birla, Chairman, Adi-
tya Birla Group, states:
“Our growth plans in the
VSF sector continue to be
aggressive. We are the
world’s No.1 in this sec-
tor with our group’s cur-
rent capacity in excess of
744,000 tons. Our intent is
to ramp up to one million
tons in the near future.”
Grasim Industries’ con-
solidated revenues for
2010-11 stood at $4.7
billion (Rs. 21,585 crores)
vis-à-vis $4.3 billion (Rs.
20,195 crores) in the previ-
ous year. Net profit at $501 million (Rs. 2,279 crores)
is lower by 17 per cent compared to $581 million (Rs.
2,759 crores).
FY10-11 has been a buoyant year in the history of
the fibre industry with the prices of all fibres reach-
ing their all-time high. This was mainly driven by im-
proved demand for textiles compared to 2009 despite
concerns over consumption in the US and European
Union markets. Lower purchases in 2009 in the value
chain also partly resulted
in a higher demand in the
current year.
Continued support with
various stimulus packages
across the globe and a sig-
nificant drop in production
of cotton in China (6.5 mil-
lion tons in 2010 against 7
million tons in 2009) and
Pakistan (1.9 million tons
in 2010 against 2.1 mil-
lion tons in 2009) due to
vagaries of nature resulted
in a significant increase in
the prices of cotton and
consequently of VSF and
PSF. The high cost of pulp
and increase in crude pric-
es also contributed to the
price rise.
Grasim’s efforts are
aimed at creating differ-
entiation in quality as well
as range of fibres vis-à-vis
its competitors next year.
The business will also con-
tinue to invest in building a
strong R&D base for both
fibre and pulp. VSF busi-
ness is poised for acceler-
ated growth with sizable
expansion projects under implementation and rising
demand.
Global VSF demand is expected to grow at 5-6 per
cent in both textiles and non-woven segments over the
long term. The entire fibre market pie is expanding
on account of the population growth and prosperity in
key emerging markets. Increasing consumer aware-
ness about the benefits of cellulose fibres has attracted
greater focus on offering innovative VSF variants, in
Mr. Kumar Mangalam Birla
Chairman, Aditya Birla Group
By K. Gopalakrishnan