Chinese Giant Paper Group Mulls Pulp Mill in Vietnam

Sinar Mas APP, the world’s ninth biggest paper firm, wants to set up a pulp mill in Vietnam with annual capacity of two million tons, nearly three times higher than the country’s pulp production set for the next three years, the Vietnam Investment Review reported.

 

An official from the Ministry of Industry and Trade said that the ministry and leaders of the Chinese firm met last week in Hanoi to discuss the investment scale, location and raw material sources for the large-scale project.

 

“Sinar Mas APP said it will initially pump US$800 million in the project in Vietnam,” the official said, adding that the firm is still considering whether or not it should build either a single large pulp mill with an annual 2 million tons or three separate facilities, each of which produces 600,000 tons of pulp a year.

 

Experts said that to ensure the mill’s full capacity at two million tons of pulp a year, Vietnam’s material areas have to provide 8 million tons annually. However, the areas will not be able to meet the mill’s designed capacity until 2020.

 

The MoIT, at the meeting, suggested the firm seek for materials from foreign countries.

 

Sinar Mas APP is now operating several pulp and paper production facilities in China, Canada and Indonesia with a combined capacity of eight million tons of pulp and ten million tons of paper annually. (Investment)