Chinese foamer Healthcare Co. reveals details of US plant

Nantong, Jiangsu – Polyurethane mattress and pillow maker Healthcare Co. has revealed capacity details for its planned plant in Knoxville, Tennessee.

With $50m investment earmarked, the plant will include facilities with 800,000 unit/year capacity for mattresses, 200,000 unit/year for padding and 300,000 unit/year for pillows, said the company’s announcement.

The overseas investment plan was first disclosed in June and received Chinese regulatory approval in September, effective within two years.

The company already has a plant in Serbia in the pipeline with at least EUR 9m ($10 m) fixed asset investment under subsidiary Healthcare Europe Doo Ruma. It also announced its purchase of a 70% stake in Spanish mattress maker Maxcolchon in March 2018.

Over the first half of 2018 Healthcare Co. reported a 23% year-on-year rise in revenue to CNY 1.3bn ($188 m). Almost 82% of this came from overseas markets. Net profit, however, dropped 66% to CNY 38m due to reasons such as rising raw material TDI prices.

Meanwhile, the company has brought an antitrust lawsuit against China’s four largest TDI makers. The trial process started in June.

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