Company shoots for textile monopoly

TALLINN - The Singapore-based Tolaram Group became the largest textile manufacturer in the Baltic region after it bought Lithuania's Alytaus Textile last month.

Alytaus Textile is Lithuania's largest textile manufacturer with a 1997 turnover of about $25 million. The Lithuanian company is expected to export 460 million kroons ($35 million) worth of products to Western Europe this year. Alytaus Textile's production will be marketed through Tolaram Group's international network.

"Tolaram's objective for the first year is to improve the production and the quality of products by upgrading the existing equipment," said Kripa Shankar Tripathi, the chief executive officer at Baltex 2000, Tolaram Group's textile company in Estonia.

The company did not reveal the amount it invested in Alytaus Textile, but stated it will direct a considerable amount for the diversification of its products range.

The new technologies will enable the Lithuanian company to produce for the more demanding markets in Western Europe and Scandinavia where Tolaram Group intends to export 75 percent of its textiles.

The Tolaram Group employs about 12,000 people and has a yearly turnover of almost $1 billion.

The company first looked into the Baltic area back in 1994 when it was interested in producing for the Western European market. It was looking for a place close to its customers with the lowest production costs.

Tolaram Group also owns Lotus Colours 2000 and Baltex Nonwovens in Estonia and Tolaram Fibers in Latvia.