Resource-based manufacturing group Royal Golden Eagle (RGE) has announced plans to invest $200 million over the next 10 years into cellulosic textile fibre research and development. The investment will support solutions in alternative cellulose or plant-based feedstock and closed-loop manufacturing. 

The target allocation for the investment is 70:20:10 in three areas, respectively. This will include scaling up clean technology in fibre manufacturing, bringing pilot scale production to commercial scale, and R&D in emerging frontier solutions.

Bey Soo Khiang, vice chairman of RGE, said the company’s integrated portfolio of companies across pulp, fibre and yarn production positions them to realise commercial scale and affordable solutions throughout the entire textile value chain. “We aspire not just to be the largest viscose producer,” he said, “but also to be a leader in sustainable textile fibre production through innovation."

Through its business groups Sateri in China and Asia Pacific Rayon (APR) in Indonesia, Singapore-based RGE says it is the world's largest viscose producer with a total annual production capacity at 1.4 million tonnes. 

"This commitment responds to two pressing environmental challenges facing the textile industry: increase in demand for both synthetic and natural fibres for textile production and increase in textile waste,” said Ben Poon, deputy head of APR. “Recycled textile waste as a feedstock tackles both issues simultaneously."