June 10 - Amcor announces today that it will build a third glass furnace at its wine bottle plant at Gawler, South Australia.
The new furnace will cost $150 million and be completed during the first half of calendar 2010. Upon completion, the site will have three furnaces with an annual capacity of 600 million wine bottles.Consistent with the approach in building the first two furnaces, the returns for the third furnace are underpinned by long term customer supply arrangements.
The investment is consistent with Amcor’s strategy of focusing capital on nominated growth segments, which includes glass wine bottles in Australia.
Amcor’s Managing Director and CEO, Mr Ken MacKenzie said: “The wine industry in Australia continues to exhibit solid growth and this translates into increasing demand for wine bottles.
“To meet this growth a new furnace needs to be constructed in Australia every three to four years. The current supply and demand environment is extremely tight given that the last furnace commissioned in Australasia was our second furnace at Gawler at the beginning of calendar 2004.
“Since commencing operations in 2002 our glass operations have consistently delivered high levels of quality, service and innovation. The wine industry has been supportive of our growth and it is pleasing that this investment is underpinned by long term customer supply agreements.
“Investment in wine bottle manufacturing in Australia has been a great success for Amcor. This new $150 million furnace builds on our strong position, creating a low cost, three furnace site, ideally positioned to service the large wine filling locations in the Barossa region.”