Austria-based Lenzing is set to construct a $293M tencel fibre plant in Alabama, US.

The new facility, to be the largest tencel fibre plant in the world, will have an annual production capacity of 90,000t.

Lenzing’s CEO Stefan Doboczky said: “This investment represents another major milestone in the implementation of our corporate strategy sCore TEN. It will bring us a big step further to reach our target of 50% revenue from specialty fibres by 2020.

“This expansion also underscores our commitment to all our tencel fibre customers, who continue to make their products even more sustainable using tencel fibre, the world’s most sustainable botanic fibre.”

The new plant is expected to be operational in the first quarter of 2019.

Lenzing Group has an annual tencel fibre production capacity of 222,000t worldwide. The new facility, alongside other announced projects, will boost the firm’s overall capacity by over 50% by 2019.

* For more information on the US construction market, visit the Construction Intelligence Center Report Store.