Hong Kong Stock Exchange-listed Lee & Man Paper Manufacturing will kick off construction of paper mills with total investment of US$1.2 billion Jul 19 in Song Hau IZ, a provincial top official said.
Nguyen Phong Quang, Hau Giang province’s party chief, confirmed that around US$630 million has been taken to the province.
Lee & Man’s announced plans to build an annual 320,000 ton containerboard paper mill and a 150,000 ton pulp mill, adding that it is also interested in investing in plantation projects in Vietnam. Materials for the mills are mostly eucalyptus and cajuputs. The paper mills, covering 110 hectares of land, will create jobs to more than 2,000 workers once operational a year later.
The Vietnam Paper Association aims to produce over one million tons of paper this year.
At present, Vietnam's pulp industry supplies only 37 per cent of domestic demand and Vietnam also has to import pulp to keep its paper mills running. In 2007, the industry anticipates importing 232,000 tons of pulp.
According to a 2006 Ministry of Industry paper industry plan, Vietnam's pulp and paper sector needs $6 billion of investment by 2020. Some of this investment has already started and about 750,000 tons of new capacity is currently planned or under construction.
In May 2006, Japan’s Marubeni Corp won a $130 million contract to build the 130,000 tons a year An Hao Pulp Mill in Tuyen Quang province. A paper mill is planned in a second phase of the project. The government has approved an area of 380,000 hectares forest land to supply the mill.
In the south of Vietnam, construction is under way on the Phuong Nam Pulp Mill in Long An province. Phuong Nam will produce 100,000 tons of kenaf pulp a year. Financing to the tune of $70 million comes from the French bank Société Générale for imports of equipment and services. PetroVietnam Finance Company and the Transport, Communication, Development and Investment Company are also funding the project. Austria's Andritz is supplying machinery with backing from the Austrian, German and Swedish export credit agencies.
In August 2006, the Saigon Export-Import Company announced plans to invest $150 million in a 115,000 tons a year pulp mill in Nui Thanh district, in the central province of Quang Nam. To supply the raw material for the mill, Quang Nam authorities have allocated 30,000 hectares of land for acacia and eucalyptus plantations.
In November 2006, the Vietnam Paper Corporation announced plans to invest almost $300 million in an expansion of the Bai Bang Paper Company in Phu Tho province. Vinapaco plans to build a 250,000 tons a year pulp production line at the Bai Bang site. A further $100 million will be spent on material forest zones, covering a total of 160,000 hectares in five provinces. (Young People,
www.wrm.org.uy)
Vietnamese
