Accoya modified wood will be made in China, if investment can be raised, and manufacturer Accsys Technologies has further, long-term international expansion plans, according to an article in The Sunday Telegraph.
The report, based on an interview with chief executive Paul Clegg, said that Asian Accoya distributor Diamond Wood is aiming to raise money in Malaysia to build the manufacturing plant in China.
Mr Clegg said the move was part of a five-year plan to grow the business. Accsys, he said, was also talking to a “large European chemicals companyabout licensing the aceytylisation process used to make Accoya.
Since his arrival at the business in 2009, Mr Clegg, brother of British Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg and a former investment banker, has raised £45m to develop Accsys, which is Aim and Euronext listed.
But he acknowledged that the wood industry adopted new products only slowly and that the recession, which has seen Accsys market valuation drop from £600m in 2007 to £32m, had made businesses even more cautious.
He said this year’s launch of Medite Tricoya MDF, based on acetylated fibre from Accsys, was an important advance for the business.
“It basically shows we have a platform technology. We can acetylate fibre as well as solid wood.”
