MOSCOW (MRC) -- Family-owned Hungarian vinyl sheet and film specialist Ongropack is set to relocate production lines to a newly constructed EUR29m plant in the country’s north eastern region, as per Plasticsnewseurope.
Growing market demand has seen the PVC extruder expand production at its original manufacturing site in Kazincbarcika, close to the Slovakia border. But the firm has now outgrown the premises and so, with government support, built a new factory further south, in the community of Szirmabesenyo close to the regional centre of Miskolc.
At the end of March, in the presence of Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban, the new operation was officially inaugurated. Orban praised the rapid growth of a Hungarian run company which has doubled annual production and more than doubled its annual revenue since 2009 when it was bought out from chemicals group BorsodChem.
Today, the PVC extruder has an output of 24,000 tpa of film and sheet, chiefly for conversion to packaging for the food and pharmaceutical sectors. Its annual sales have increased to around EUR43m and workforce has risen to 240 in nine years.
The PM pointed out that Ongropack supplies PVC materials mainly to the pharmaceuticals, food and construction industries – sectors that in Hungary are now “performing outstandingly well”.
Overall, the Hungarian economy was expanding rapidly at the end of last year. In the fourth quarter of 2017, the economy grew by almost 5%, significantly exceeding the EU’s average growth of 2.6%, according to Orban.
Ongropack’s present owner, Laszlo Kovacs, speaking at the Szirmabesenyo ceremony, said the company’s sales had grown steadily, due to internal and external factors and focused on improving its product quality. Its revenue had improved by around 9% annually since 2009, he pointed out.
The company now exports more than 90% of its production, mainly to EU countries, said Kovacs, formerly BorsodChem’s chief executive officer.
Ongropack is due to begin the relocation of production lines to new halls at its completed manufacturing site. Production will be continuous during what should be a seamless transition period for its customers, the owner promised.
His firm’s latest investment project attracted government assistance to the tune of EUR3.36m in the form of a non-repayable state grant.
Last year, Ongropack grew its vinyl stretch film manufacturing capacity with the addition of a new line taking its output for this product area to 1,200tpa with a total of six lines at its Kazincbarcika plant. The project, which began in 2016, involved investment of nearly EUR1m.
MRC