Zoltek has released a statement regarding the natural gas supply disruption in Europe and how it is expected to affect their operations. Currently, Zoltek does not anticipate any disruption in its business operations in Hungary. The company guards against supply shortages by maintaining inventories of both precursors and finished goods. Should the shortage continue, Zoltek can utilize precursor from its plant in Mexico.

Here’s what Zoltec’s Chairman and CEO, Zsolt Rumy, has to say about the issue:

While the natural gas supply problems certainly are creating hardships for many in Europe and we hope that they can be solved quickly, we don’t believe this development will have a significant effect on our ability to meet our customers’ needs. The availability of the Mexican precursor demonstrates the value of the redundant facilities. As we have said in the past, the key factors that impact our short-term performance are our customers’ inventory management practices, including seasonal adjustments, as well as foreign currency fluctuations and the current weakness in the global economy. Longer term continuation of our growth trends will be a function of our ability to enter into supply relationships with large-volume users of carbon fibers for commercial applications who seek a reliable source of supply at favorable, sustainable prices. We believe we have a stable platform to build on our leadership in wind energy and other applications while we aggressively seek out new breakthrough applications."