Stora Enso has signed a joint-venture agreement with Shandong Huatai Paper
STORA ENSO OYJ Stock Exchange Release 25 April 2006 at 10.30
Stora Enso has signed a joint-venture agreement with Shandong
Huatai Paper
Stora Enso has signed an agreement with Shandong Huatai Paper to
form a publication paper company. As announced on 28 October
2004, Stora Enso and Shandong Huatai Paper have been conducting
a feasibility study concerning publication paper production in
China. The agreement establishing the joint venture, in which
Stora Enso will hold 60% of the share capital, is subject to
approval by the Chinese authorities.
The joint venture's paper machine at Dongying in Shandong
province in China is planned to have an annual production
capacity up to 200 000 tonnes of super-calendered (SC) magazine
paper and other publication paper grades based on recovered
fibre. Dongying city is located between Beijing and Shanghai.
The total investment of the joint venture is estimated to be
approximately USD 100 million (EUR 83 million) of which Stora
Ensos share is 60%. Assembly of the production line will start
in mid 2007, depending on the permission process. The production
of the paper machine, which is expected to start up in late
2007, will be utilised to satisfy the growing market for offset
printing papers in China. Key components of the joint-venture
equipment are to be sourced from a machine formerly at Stora
Ensos Maxau Mill in Germany.
The key strategic aims for Stora Enso are to strengthen our
market position in the core product segment of publication
paper, to grow with our key customers and to continue expanding
in new growth markets such as China. Our co-operation with
Huatai Paper, the leading producer of newsprint in China, will
open up new business segments for Stora Enso in China, says
Stora Ensos CEO Jukka Härmälä who signed the agreement in the
presence of Finlands Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen.
Shandong Huatai Paper Co. Ltd, is a company listed on the
Shanghai Stock Exchange with sales of EUR 290 million in 2005.
It is part of the Huatai Group, which is involved in paper
manufacture, the chemicals industry, printing, energy, forestry,
logistics and trading. The Huatai Group has over 10 000
employees, including about 4 470 at Huatai Paper. All of the
companys paper and board manufacturing assets are located in
Shandong province and its annual production capacity is
1 200 000 tonnes of paper and board.
For further information, please contact:
Bernd Rettig, Senior Executive Vice President, Stora Enso
Publication Paper, tel. +49 211 581 2310
Markku Pentikäinen, Executive Vice President, Corporate
Technology and Asia Pacific, tel. +86 13 76 43 00 175
Kari Vainio, Executive Vice President, Corporate Communications,
tel. +44 7799 348 197
Keith B Russell, Senior Vice President, Investor Relations, tel.
+44 20 7016 3146
www.storaenso.com
www.storaenso.com/investors
Some previous press releases concerning Stora Ensos activities in
China available at www.storaenso.com/press:
- 3 April 2006: Corenso expands in China
- 29 March 2006: Stora Enso to sign an agreement for co-operation
with UNDP China
- 10 November 2005: Stora Enso strengthens its presence in Guangxi
- 10 June 2005: Stora Enso signs loan agreement with International
Financing Corporation
- 31 March 2005: UNDP to Assess Environment and Social Impact of a
Forestry Investment Project in Guangxi, China
- 28 October 2004: Stora Enso joint venture in China
- 4 February 2004: Stora Enso to modernise its fine paper machine
at Suzhou, China
STORA ENSO OYJ
p.p. Jussi Siitonen Jukka Marttila