“The successes achieved during the traditional industrial era must also be maintained following the digital revolution, in the interests of which large corporations that create highly developed technologies must be encouraged to invest in Hungary through tax benefits and funding”, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó said.
The Minister stressed that Hungary has an open economy, and accordingly its performance is affected to a significant extent by the investments of foreign companies.
Japanese corporation Zoltek is creating 357 new workplaces at its plant in Nyergesújfalu with an investment on 30.8 billion forints (EUR 99 million), during the course of which 8 new production lines will be established and the company’s annual carbon fibre production capacity will increase from 10 thousand tons to 15 thousand tons, Mr. Szijjártó announced, adding that the Government is providing 8.1 billion forints (EUR 26 million) in funding towards the project, which will create Europe’s largest carbon fibre manufacturing plant, meaning the majority of products used in Europe’s wind turbines will be manufactured here in Hungary.
Mr. Szijjártó said the plant’s buyers will also include Mercedes, BMW and Toyota in view of the fact that the automotive industry also uses carbon fibre for the manufacturing of body elements. The Minister stressed that carbon fibre production is a sector that requires continuous research, development and new technologies, and which results in innovation, and Zoltek is one of the world’s leading representatives of the sector with production activities in the Unites States and Mexico, in addition to its plant in Hungary. Together with its legal predecessor, the company had been operating for 23 years, he added.
The company currently employs 1260 people in Hungary and will also be teaching carbon fibre technology in higher education thanks to an agreement with the Budapest University of Technology, Mr. Szijjártó told the press. The Minister said it was an acknowledgement of Hungary’s outstanding investment environment that yet another major investment has arrived from the world’s third largest economy.
The 170 Japanese companies currently operating in Hungary employ a total of 26 thousand people, trade flow between the two countries exceeded 2 billion euros last year, and the technological level of enterprises from East Asia is bringing renewal to the European economy, he added.
At the press conference, CEO of Zoltek Takeuchi Joshihiro said that the company provides half of the world’s total carbon fibre production and is supplying a demand that is increasing from year to year. Carbon fibre products are used to reinforce wind turbines and the break systems of aeroplanes, and it is also used in oil exploration and oil drilling, as well as in the production of boats and sports equipment.
The technology is also essential to the production of electric vehicles, and according the CEO said he expects Zoltek’s Hungarian subsidiary to also become involved in research relating to European electromobility. The region’s Member of Parliament Pál Völner welcomed the fact that the products manufactured by the Nyergesújfalu plant combine environmental protection with state-of-the-art technology. The investment is also in harmony with the Government’s efforts to attract manufacturing and job-creating investments to Hungary, he added.
(Cabinet Office of the Prime Minister/MTI)
