Fabrika-Gorsel
Doubled capacity: Lila Group’s TRY450m investment is in response to increased trade opportunities

Turkish hygienic tissue paper manufacturer Lila Group is to increase its production capacity by 50% after investing in an integrated tissue plant. According to the company, the TRY450m investment will make it the second-largest integrated tissue producer in Europe. Exporting to 78 different countries across the globe, Lila Group decided to increase its production capacity following increasing trading volume and Turkey’s potential to grow in the tissue industry. The new plant will increase the group’s staff count by 35% and will be based on a 50,000 square metre area on the company’s existing production plant in Çorlu. Chief executive Alp Öğücü said: “We have announced the largest integrated plant investment in one campus in the tissue industry. “We decided to increase our production capacity due to increasing trade volume, Turkey’s potential to develop in this industry and its ever-growing population. “Once up and running our company, which carries on its activities under one roof in the largest integrated production plant in East Europe, Turkey, the Caucasus and the MENA region, will be the second-largest integrated plant with the largest capacity in Europe within the same campus.” The new plant will be launched in the first quarter of 2020. Öğücü added: “We will reach our roll paper producing capacity to 220,000tpy by increasing our existing production capacity by 50% and our branded product capacity from 100,000tpy to 120,000tpy. “We are aiming to increase our market share by increasing the number of countries we export to.” He added that saved energy due to the investment will be equal to the amount of energy consumed by 4,000 households per year: “Our new plant’s machines are equipped with the latest technology. With the help of these updates, we will gain a 15% saving in energy consumption, which means US$1,500,000 worth of energy saving. “As a group, we are at the top three in our industry. We finished 2018 with TRY900m turnover and 30% growth.“The first nine-month long period was quite productive for us and compared to the same period last year we achieved approximately 30% growth.” Today the company exports 65% of its productions and also offers 35% of its production in the domestic market.