Radici Seeks Key Position in European Fiber Sector
Prague, Czech Republic, July 20--At a special conference here, from June 24-25, Italy's Radici Group outlined the changing face of the European fiber and yarn sector, specifically for the flooring industry, according to Inteletex.
The publication said that after its sale by DuPont to the US giant Koch Industries, it was said that Invista appears to be less concerned with the future of the industry.
"Invista is clearly changing its priorities, and not only in nylon," said PCI consultant David Hart. "The business is much more focused on short term cash and profit generation."
Meanwhile, the other leader in this field, Rhodia, has expressed its intention to exit the fibre business altogether. Radici hopes to have finalised its controlling investment in Nylstar - currently a joint venture between Rhodia and Snia - by the end of this year. It is subject to an anti-trust investigation.
"Radici is intent on buying Nylstar and if this goes ahead as planned, Rhodia will no longer have much involvement in the industry at all," Mr Hart added.
This will leave Radici to assume a key role in driving the industry forward, through both R&D innovation and the increased co-operation of its major players. The Prague event was held specifically to illustrate the company's willingness to assume the mantel.
"Unlike in the USA, where the textile flooring market is in the hands of just a few big players, in Europe there are numerous small and medium-sized companies," said RadiciFibres CEO Paolo Antonietti. "This fragmentation has stopped us from creating a joint plan to tackle the problem at R&D, marketing and distribution level. The companies that want to continue operating in the European sector have to be prepared to establish partnerships and synergies - even with competitors - as we are doing."
A broad theme of the conference was the wide disparity between the floorcoverings market of Europe, which is struggling, and that of NAFTA, which appears to be thriving, and where the total market size for tufted automotive carpet is put at an annual 90 million square metres, compared to just 22 million square metres for the rest of the world.
Radici Group had an annual turnover of €1,069 million in 2004 - €588 million achieved through the sale of fibres.
