Toho Tenax (Europe: Wuppertal / Germany; www.tohotenax-eu.com) started up its 1,700 t/y fourth carbon fibre production line at Oberbruch / Germany in September after a year’s delay. The company, a subsidiary of Japan’s Teijin (Tokyo; www.teijin.co.jp), said the plant, which has since reached full run, was completed in August 2009. However, recession-related declining demand for carbon fibre had forced the “adjustment of global production in Japan, Germany and the US.”

With the recession apparently over, the Japan-based group said it plans to “further optimise” production in Japan, Europe and the US, in response to “growing demand” from aircraft, sports, leisure and industrial applications such as wind power generation. Following a decline in global carbon fibre volume sales to around 23,000 t in 2009, Toho Tenax said it expects the market's total output to increase by about 15% annually from 2010.