LENZING GROUP Weathers the crisis year 2020 and remains strategically well on track

In 2020, the Lenzing Group successfully responded to the extremely difficult market environment due to the COVID-19 crisis by implementing a broad package of measures and remains fully on track in terms of its strategy.

The measures focused on protecting Lenzing’s employees and partners and on safeguarding its operations. Lenzing flexibly adjusted production volumes and was able to offer its customers the usual delivery service at any time. In addition, Lenzing also intensified measures for structural earnings improvement to mitigate the effect of the pressure on fiber prices and demand for fibers, and reduced its operating costs.

The immediate effects of the COVID-19 crisis increased the pressure on prices and volumes in the textile fiber segment, in particular in the second quarter of 2020. The recovery of demand in the second half of the year, primarily for wood-based specialty fibers such as TENCEL™ Modal and LENZING™ ECOVERO™, had a positive impact on the revenue and earnings development, but could not compensate for losses. Revenue declined by 22.4 percent to EUR 1.63 bn in 2020.

“2020 was largely dominated by the COVID-19 pandemic, also at Lenzing. Lenzing responded quickly and with determination to the increased pressure on prices and volumes. In the second half of the year, we saw a broad recovery of the fiber market; in particular, demand for our sustainably produced specialty fibers increased significantly”, says Stefan Doboczky, CEO of the Lenzing Group. “Strategically, we remain fully on track and the implementation of our key projects in Brazil and Thailand continues to proceed according to plan. With our corporate priorities, we are consistently pursuing a major goal, namely to make a zero-carbon future come true”, says Doboczky.

Strengthening specialty fiber growth