Global bathroom products manufacturer Roca Group plans to invest €70mn in building a large industrial complex in Kyzylorda, southern Kazakhstan, as the Spanish company eyes expanding demand across Central Asia.

The investment reflects a growing interest among European manufacturers in Kazakhstan and the broader Central Asian region, with companies attractecd by the rising population, infrastructure investments and the location on the Middle Corridor transit route between China and Europe.

Roca’s regional president Daniel Hernández said in an interview in Astana that the project is expected to receive approval “in the next few weeks”, after which construction will begin.

“We have been analysing the situation and there is huge potential,” Hernández told bne IntelliNews on the sidelines of the Kazakhstan Global Investment Roundtable (KGIR) on October 31. “Right now this part of the world is really hot for investors. The population is growing … For us, it’s a big, big potential.”

Regional hub

The planned Kyzylorda site will serve as Roca’s production hub for Central Asia, consisting of six factories producing a full range of bathroom products, including sanitary ware, faucets, bathroom furniture and installation systems.

The complex will have capacity to manufacture around half a million units of sanitary ware and half a million faucets a year. It will employ about 200 people, of whom 30-40 will receive training in Roca’s European factories before returning to Kazakhstan.

Hernández said the facility will supply both domestic and regional markets. Up to 40% of production is expected to be exported to neighbouring Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and possibly Azerbaijan, where Roca recently opened a showroom in Baku.

“We already have some distributors importing products mainly from Europe, but in low quantities,” Hernández said. “Then we are going to have a warehouse and we will develop commercial distribution channels. We are not going to wait until we have the factory. We are going to start the business.”

Kazakhstan’s government has welcomed the investment as part of its push to attract manufacturing industries beyond the oil sector. Speaking at the KGIR, Prime Minister Olzhas Bektenov singled out Roca’s project as an example of growing international investor interest.

“Just yesterday, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev was briefed on Roca Group’s initiatives to produce modern sanitary ware,” Bektenov told the conference. “The new plant will manufacture high-quality, export-oriented products. Construction of this unique project will begin soon.”

Local suppliers 

For its Kazakhstani plant, the company aims to use local materials where possible, including clays, kaolin and feldspar.

“We are trying to concentrate our raw materials in Kazakhstan because of logistics, but we will also import from Europe and China,” Hernández said. “We are looking for local suppliers. We have three different rings. The first is the Kyzylorda region, where we want to concentrate as many suppliers as possible. The second is Kazakhstan, and the third is Central Asia.”

Hernández said that sustainability is central to the group’s operations. “We have good quality products. We are also distinguished by our sustainability. We are different from other factories. We care a lot about sustainability,” he said. In January, he recalled, Roca received the EcoVadis Platinum Medal for Sustainability Performance, meaning it is in the top 1% of 150,000 companies globally in terms of sustainability rankings.

Founded in 1917 and headquartered in Barcelona, Roca Group designs, produces and distributes bathroom space products, operating in more than 170 countries. It owns two key brands: Roca, the mainstream global brand aimed at mid-range consumers, and Laufen, the Swiss high-end label known for its designer products.