Stora Enso's 2.9-bln-USD board and pulp mill operational in China

Finnish papermaker Stora Enso on Thursday put a 19-billion-yuan (2.9 billion U.S. dollars) board-and-pulp mill into production in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

The mill, the largest single investment by a northern European company in China, is designed to churn out 450,000 tonnes of liquid packaging board and other high-end board products annually.

Liquid packaging board is used for high quality beverage cartons and allows long-distance distribution of products such as milk and juice. Over 80 percent of China's consumption of such products comes from overseas suppliers.

Stora Enso also rented 80,000 hectares of artificial forest in Guangxi that could supply the mill in Beihai City with more than 350,000 cubic meters of wood a year.

In addition, a chemical pulp facility, with a maximum capacity of 200,000 tonnes, is scheduled to be operational in the fourth quarter of the year.

Rajah Jayendran, senior vice president of Stora Enso, said its products will supply customers in China as well as in other Asian countries like Singapore and Japan.

Matti Vanhanen, former prime minister of Finland, said businesses in China and Finland should continue to go from strength to strength as there is great potential for cooperation in the fields of forestry and agriculture. Endi