Greenply Industries to expand Gabon unit

The stock of Greenply Industries was buzzing on Wednesday with news that the company plans to expand its manufacturing facility in Gabon, West Africa.

Greenply's expansion involves an investment of 4 million euro to scale up production from the existing capacity of 3,000 CBM (cubic meter ) per month to 8,000 CBM by the end of March 2019.

The face veneers manufacturing plant situated in Gabon's NKOK Special Economic Zone has a peeling capacity of 96,000 CBM per year. This plant was built with a capex of 11 million euro. The plant uses Okoume timber which is popular internationally for the production of plywood. Gabon has huge reserves of exploitable timber, the country supplies 90 per cent of the world’s total Okoume timer supply. It is widely used in Europe and America for interior furniture and its demand is picking up in Asia.

The company's Plywood margin is expected to improve by 100 basis points with increased usage of Gabon Face Veneers.

Meanwhile, at 10:59 hours, Greenply Industries was quoting Rs. 176.45 per share, up by 1.96 per cent on Wednesday.