Glaverbel Group to build third float plant in Russia

This will be the first such greenfield project in that country by any Western glassmaker. The new plant will have a capacity of around 600 tonnes per day, and will be situated at Klin in the Moscow region, near to large consumption centres of glass for the construction and automotive industries in Moscow and St. Petersburg. A mirror production unit with a capacity of around 5 million square metres per year will be built on the same site.

Agreement for this double investment totalling around EUR 130 million has been reached with the Russian authorities. Work on the float plant should begin in July 2002, and the facilities will be operational by the end of 2004.

The Glaverbel Group is the only Western glassmaker to have a presence on the Russian market, through the intermediary of Bor Glassworks* (at Nizhny Novgorod) and Glaverbel Vostok (in the Moscow region). Bor Glassworks is the largest Russian producer of flat glass by the float process (two lines with a total capacity of around 1,100 tonnes/day) and of automotive glass (capacity of around 900,000 sets/year). Glaverbel Vostok, formed at the beginning of this year, sells the output of Bor Glassworks and Glaverbel products with high added value on the Russian market.