Hamburger Containerboard, a subsidiary of Austrian Prinzhon Holding, one of the largest packaging companies in Europe, has decided to invest 300 million Euros in Kütahya. The signing ceremony for the location allocation of the paper mill, which is aimed to start operating in Kütahya 2nd Organized Industrial Zone (OIZ) in 2020 and to provide direct employment to 500 people, was held with wide participation.
Governor of Kütahya said that this investment is important as it is the first greenfield investment of the company in Turkey. In addition, it takes its place as a significant investment for us in terms of showing the continuing foreign direct investments made in our country and the confidence of international capital in our country. We are happy and proud that such a foreign direct investment, which will provide employment for approximately 500 people, will be made in our city. We anticipate that this project will be completed and production will begin in 2020.”
It was stated that the paper mill to be established in Kütahya will be equipped with the latest technology and will have a production capacity of 480 thousand tons of container cardboard.
We are talking about a paper production facility with a capacity of 480 thousand tons. In other words, this means 18 percent of the current production capacity in Turkey. If we accept that half of the existing production facilities in Turkey are old technology, this investment will bring a new color to both Kütahya and Turkey. There will be 120 trucks entering and leaving the factory per day, and most of the products will be evaluated domestically. They will export the rest. The company officials said that we will need employees there, so’ we plan to hire our colleagues 1 to 1.5 years before the factory starts working, and give them trainning in a papermaking school in Europe, they want them to tour their factories in Europe and have knowledge about paper.
The Austrian company is among the leading manufacturers of high-quality corrugated board materials in Europe. Germany (Spremberg, Trostberg and Gelsenkirchen), Austria (Pitten), Hungary (Dunaujvaros) and Turkey (Çorlu and Denizli) produce two million tons of brown and white lined paper, white backed paper and plasterboard every year. They employ 6,300 people in 15 countries and have doubled their capacity in 12 years.Today, they have a capacity of 2 million tons and they produce 170 thousand tons in Turkey.