WELSH government backing has helped a Valleys firm create 30 jobs.

The €6.4m investment by Klöckner Pentaplast to increase capacity and introduce new green technology into its manufacturing process in Crumlin has created 30 new jobs in the past 12 months with the support of the Welsh Government.

The expansion project which was backed by £400,000 business finance from the Welsh Government has now been completed marking 15 years of continuous growth of the company supported by the Welsh Government.

The company is part of the German headquartered Klöckner Pentaplast Group, a global leader in providing packaging, printing, and specialty plastic solutions serving the pharmaceutical, medical device, food, beverage, and credit card markets among others.

The investment has seen a new extrusion line installed for the production of polyester films, primarily used in food and consumer packaging applications. The new line is now in full production and will increase capacity by 8,000 metric tons a year to meet the growing demands from markets in the UK and Ireland.

Economy Minister Edwina Hart said: “This is an important investment by Klöckner Pentaplast and will ensure it remains competitive and can meet the increased demand from customers. There was competition from within the group for this investment and I am delighted that the support of the WG helped secured this project for Wales.

“KP which works in one of our key sectors has continued to invest and expand in Crumlin and this investment is a good example of our green growth approach to developing the Welsh economy.”

The new state-of-the-art extrusion line introduces new clean, greener technology with lower energy consumption and is capable of using a higher quantity of recycled materials to meet growing demand from customers.

The company which employs 121 at its UK manufacturing site in Crumlin has four PVC extrusion lines producing around 19k tonnes and 2 APET lines producing 16k tonnes every year, using industrial waste and recycled raw materials.

Giles Peacock, Group Senior Vice President for Klöckner Pentaplast Group commented: “This expansion secured our position in the UK food packaging market and enables us to work closely with our customers to develop the next generation of food packaging materials.”