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Slovakia: new Swedwood plant to start production in summer 2003

¡¾Jan.26, 2002¡¿

Slovakia: new Swedwood plant to start production in summer 2003

Swedwood International AB, furniture manufacturing company belonging to the Swedish IKEA group, announced that its new plant in Slovakia may start producing sliced veneer in the summer of 2003. It will employ 150 people at least, and its maximum production is projected at 15 million square meters of veneer annually.

Swedwood made the announcement after signing a framework agreement on the supply of wood with the Slovak Agriculture Minister.

The location where the plant will be built has not been selected so far. The general director of Slovak state-run company Lesy SR signed with Swedwood representatives a framework agreement on the supply of beech logs for 20 years.

The planned plant will be the fourth production plant of Swedwood in Slovakia. The investments are projected at EUR 10 million (SKK 42.55 million). Furniture producer Spartan Trnava will process the better portion of the plant's production of veneer.

Swedwood investments in Slovakia total SKK 6 billion, and the company sees great potential to expand its production activities in Slovakia. 50% of Swedwood's output is made for IKEA.Over the financial year of 2000, the company reported a turnover of EUR 9.5 billion. For this financial year it is projected to climb by 13%.