Finnish packaging company Huhtamaki (Espoo; www.huhtamaki.com) is planning further investments to grow its business, this time in Egypt and India. The news follows announcements in September that it will build a new plant in the US and modernise its China facility (see Plasteurope.com of 23.09.2016).

In the greater Cairo area in Egypt, Huhtamaki will set up a flexible packaging plant, which is scheduled to go into operation during 2018, employing around 300 people. This facility will be owned and operated as a joint venture, with Huhtamaki holding 75%. The remaining 25% will be owned by Ayman Korra, Huhtamaki’s partner in its Egyptian Molded Fiber business.

Total investment is expected to be around EUR 23m, which includes the purchase of the land, the first phase of construction, as well as machinery and utilities. The plant will serve both global and local customers and export products overseas. Currently, Huhtamaki supplies its Egyptian customers from operations in the United Arab Emirates and India.“ The investment in Egypt marks our entry into manufacturing flexible packaging in Africa. With its rapid population growth, Africa is expected to offer sizable future growth opportunities to us and our customers,” said group CEO Jukka Moisio.

In order to better serve customers in northeast India, Huhtamaki will set up manufacturing plants for flexible packaging in the state of Assam and for labels in the state of Sikkim. Both units are scheduled to start production during the first half of 2017. In addition, a label manufacturing plant in greater Mumbai will be relocated to a new facility by the end of 2017 to provide room for expansion. The total cost of these projects will be around EUR 9m.

Moisio said the Indian investments will further improve its geographic coverage of the country as well as its ability to service customers in the food and pharmaceutical industries. When completed, the additions will take Huhtamaki’s total number of manufacturing plants in India to 17.