The Hobas Group (A-9020 Klagenfurth; www.hobas.com) intends to launch a major market offensive abroad to strengthen the position of its pipe range in “high-potential markets.” With this in mind, Hobas, a leading international manufacturer of GRP pipe systems, recently began building a new production plant in Poland. Hobas Polska SP.zo.n. (PL-60277 Poznan), is to be the future centre for the markets of Poland, eastern Europe and Russia. The Hobas CC-GRP pipe systems from Poland will be used predominantly for effluent systems, but in the medium term, the aim is to also focus on drinking water applications.

The company has already been operating successfully in the Czech Republic and Slovak Republic for 10 years. At the end of 2002, it began building a new production facility for couplings and fittings in Uherske Hradiste (Czech Republic), which is scheduled for completion before the end of the first quarter of 2003. To consolidate its position in central Europe, Hobas CZ spol.sr.o. is working intensively on tapping the markets of Bulgaria, Greece, Moldavia and Hungary, where a subsidiary was set up in July 2002 under the name Hobas Hungaria Kft (H-9025 Györ). In addition, the Hobas site in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates is being considerably expanded. The present two-feeder factory in future will have four new feeders, raising output by around 200%.

With the production and marketing of centrifugally cast glass fibre-reinforced plastic pipe systems for effluent, drinking water, cooling water, irrigation water and drainage systems, the Hobas Group has total annual sales of over EUR 120m. With a workforce of more than 550, the company has 29 sites throughout the world.