Toray Industries group a Japanese multinational corporationg with founding business areas in fibers and textiles, as well as plastics and chemicals having textile production facility in Prostejov, in the Czech Republic’s south-eastern part under its Czech subsidiary, Toray Textiles Central Europe (TTCE) is eyeing to further expand the production capacity this year, and plans to create 30 new jobs at the Czech plant. The Toray group has established itself as the largest foreign investor in the country’s Olomouc region and is strengthening its position in Central-Eastern Europe’s textile market with the record sales of TTCE.

In 2014, TTCE boosted its sales by 72% to some CZK 1.37 billion (€51 million), which resulted from a higher demand for its products, and the relatively weak Czech krona. In line with its increased sales for last year, the Japanese firm expanded its net profit to about CZK 158 million (€5.8 million), a robust improvement compared with CZK 27 million (€1 million) posted a year earlier.

According to Toray Industries, its products are 100% polyester filament fabrics, plain taffeta, textured taffeta and pongee. TTCE was the first Czech-based firm to start making textiles for automotive air bags, and its portfolio also includes lining cloth, sportswear, furnishing materials, outer wear, and base fabric for industrial use.

The year 2014 was the most successful one in the company’s history. Despite the increasingly competitive environment in all segments [of the textile market], their company managed to almost double its revenues, said Shozo Sugaya, the chief executive of TTCE.

Sugaya said that the improved financial results of the firm were enabled by various factors, including the increased share of higher added value products in its sales.

In 2014, TTCE increased its sales of polyester lining fabric by 27%, and sales of fabrics used in the manufacturing of airbags were up 22% compared with a year earlier. This was mainly due to the increased sales to automotive parts maker Autolive, the largest supplier of airbag components in the world.

Toray Industries is a leading manufacturer of synthetic fibres and textiles with 199 offshoots and affiliated companies in 17 countries worldwide. The Japanese group's diversified businesses include fibres and textiles, plastics and chemicals, as well as other sectors, including carbon fibre. In Europe the group's subsidiaries, which are active in the fibres and textiles sectors include the Czech offshoot, as well as subsidiaries in the UK and Italy, according to data released by Toray Industries.

Construction works on the Czech production facility were launched in 1998, and production at the factory was commenced in July 1999. In the first phase of the plant’s development, the Japanese group invested some US$48 million (€44 million) at Prostejov.

According to Toray Industries, a significant share of the production facility’s output is intended for export sales to a wide range of foreign markets. Among the EU member states, these include neighbouring Germany, Poland, Austria, Slovakia and Hungary, as well as the UE, France, Spain, Italy and others. Outside of the EU, the Prostejov-based plant exports its products to the US and Canada. Prostejov has served as the centre of the Czech textile industry.