With a population of just over 10 million, Hungary borders no less than seven other countries – Austria, Croatia, Romania, Serbia and Montenegro, Slovakia, Slovenia and Ukraine.
This was a key reason Germany’s J. H. Ziegler – winner of the 2008 Innovation Award for Marketing at the INDEX 08 nonwovens show held at Geneva Palexpo – took the decision to invest in a new plant there.
J. H. Ziegler has purchased an 18,000-square-metre site in Bábolna and installed needlepunching equipment there in a total investment of €3.2 million, with a view to targeting both the furniture and automotive markets in the region.
And such trade has been made considerably easier following the construction of the country’s new M7 motorway from Budapest to Croatia – involving some 1.2 million square metres of geotextiles supplied by Denmark-headquartered Fibertex.
The new motorway had to be constructed over thick peat layers with very low bearing capacity.
The peat layers were typically 3-4 metres deep, but in some areas as much as eight metres deep, and the underground water level was close to the ground surface.
To stabilise the soft subsoil, Fibertex geotextiles were installed between the construction layers as a separator, in combination with a geogrid.
The geotextiles prevent the mingling and migration of materials, yet at the same time, allow free movement of water. Their high puncture resistance and high tensile strength to resist the strains of installation in general use was crucial to the load-bearing capacity of the construction. Fibertex F-2B and F-320 needlepunched polypropylene grades were chosen for the project.
Hungary held its first multi-party elections in 1990 and initiated a free market economy. In an April 2003 referendum, 84% voted in favour of joining the EU in 2004.
EDANA, the international association serving the nonwovens and related industries which organises the INDEX shows, will also hold its Outlook consumer products conference in Hungary later this year, at the Kempinski Hotel Corvinus in Budapest from September 22-24. The next INDEX show at Geneva Palexpo will follow from April 12th 15th 2011.
Hungary has few native nonwovens producers, but Graboplast is perhaps its best known, formed in 2002 following the merger of Grabotext with wallpaper producer Grabetta-Keszta.
Graboplast has been manufacturing nonwovens as substrates for synthetic leather for almost 40 years. These are sold to for use in footwear and garments, fancy leather goods, upholstery and book-binding. A second Hungarian company, Temaforg makes needlepunched, stitchbonded and spray-bonded materials from a wide range of fibres in weights of between 70-1,000gsm.
