The $12-billion Aditya Birla Group plans to expand its viscose staple fibre (VSF) business globally. It already has a 23-per cent global market share with an installed capacity of 566ktpa, after a recent ramp-up of 120ktpa.

Expansion is also underway at the Group''s VSF manufacturing plants in Thailand, Indonesia, India and China. In Thailand the group will add 31ktpa; in Indonesia 37ktpa; in India 64ktpa and in China 30ktpa.

Once these brownfield expansion plans are completed in the second quarter of 2008, the Group''s combined VSF production will rise to 727ktpa at an investment close to $260 million.

Says Shailendra K Jain, director responsible for the global pulp and fibre business, "Our growth, going forward, will be through all options. Over the years we have been moving away from being a pure commodity player to a value-added player for the niche segments of the market. In addition to spun dyed fibres, we have significantly enhanced our speciality fibre portfolio covering all generations of man-made cellulosic fibres.

"Our intent is to be an equally significant producer of fibres for non-woven applications. These brownfield expansions in Thailand, Indonesia, China and India have been engineered for the production of speciality fibres for the higher end of the market and also for the production of fibres for the fast-growing non-wovens segment."

While the current expansion is intended to meet the growing demand for VSF in thee merging textile hubs of Asia, the Group also plans to set up of a 90ktpa greenfield capacity in the Mediterranean region to offers cost and logistics advantages to the existing VSF operations.

"This new facility with a focus on high-end products will enlarge our global footprint and help meet the requirements of customers in emerging textile hubs of the Middle East, Mediterranean region and Latin American countries in a cost effective way," says Jain.

The new capacity will also enable the group''s customers to meet the challenge of increased textile imports from China post WTO.

The Group''s VSF business operates through its three companies — Grasim Industries in India, Thai Rayon Corporation in Thailand and Indo Bharat Rayon in Indonesia, which also oversees its Chinese operations at Birla Jingwei Fibres, China.

The Group has also concurrently expanded its presence in dissolving grade pulp production to support the raw material requirement of its VSF operations. The Group has two pulp plants in Canada and one in India. It has initiated a pulp and plantation project in Laos to strengthen its backward integration.

The Group says its pulp and fibre business is on top of the league in the VSF sector globally, factoring an aggregate view of its financials, margins, geographical spread, horizontal and vertical integration, product mix and market presence.