Chinese glass fibre producer Jushi (Tongxiang City, Zhejiang; www.jushi.com) has started up its second glass fibre furnace in Suez / Egypt, with production expected to begin in July 2016. The company’s Suez facility was opened in 2013 with a capacity of 80,000 t/y. This second phase doubles capacity at the plant and will be followed by a third and final furnace planned to be installed in 2017.

Helm (Hamburg / Germany; www.helmag.com) will continue to market production from the facility as exclusive distributor for Germany, Austria and Switzerland for Jushi (see also Plasteurope.com of 14.03.2014).

Jushi CEO Zhang Yuqiang said: “The expansion outside of China, serving Europe with our full range of products, both thermoset and thermoplastic, is part of our corporate strategy to be a truly global supplier of glass fibre systems to our worldwide customers. Investing in further innovative products, we will launch a new high performance ‘E8-Glass’, comparable to the traditional ‘S-Glass’, to the market by end of 2016, which will have higher strength and stiffness for applications such as wind rotor blades and automotive parts.”

The company added that it plans to break ground at its first site in the US in Richland, South Carolina, at the end of 2016 – see Plasteurope.com of 08.06.2016.