After several announcements of furnace renewals with smaller capacity expansions, fibre optics producer Jushi (Tongxiang City, Zhejiang, China; www.jushi.com) is making a big splash. Production at the Jiujiang plant in the eastern Chinese province of Jiangxi is to be expanded by 400,000 t/y by building a second plant.

With a capacity of 1.4 m t/y, the company is already the world’s largest manufacturer of glass fibres and GF products. Even the second-largest Owens Corning is far behind with 600,000 t/y. This capacity will be further reduced after the planned sale of its short glass fibre business (see Plasteurope.com of 25.11.2021).

Jushi, by contrast, plans to expand its Jiujiang facility in two 200,000 t/y phases, which are scheduled to come online in 2023 and 2024. The total cost is stated at just under RMB 5.1 bn (EUR 732.5 mn). According to the company, initial approvals have already been received from the provincial government, and the board of directors has also voted unanimously in favour of the project. The approval of the shareholders, however, is still pending. Currently, Jushi in Jiujiang has a capacity of 350,000 t/y, spread over four lines.

Last year, the company had already announced production expansions at its main plant in Tongxiang and in Egypt (see Plasteurope.com of 08.09.2021).