Shandong Firm Building $1.5 Billion Paper Project

---

Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Shandong Asia Pacific Senbo Paper Company Limited (Rizhao City, Shandong Province) is building a $1.5 billion, 1 million-ton-per-annum sulfite pulp project in Rizhao City. The company will also invest $400 million for environmental protection to comply with China's tightening rules on the paper industry. Construction began at the end of October 2007, but a completion date was not available.

The company will be able to produce 1.3 million tons of pulp every year based on its current annual capacity of 315,000 tons. Senbo is on track to become China's largest pulp-making enterprise, owning the world's largest single pulp-making product line, according to magazine China Business Weekly.

In terms of the environmental investment, Senbo will use the money to buy equipment for alkali recovery, sewage treatment, air-pollution treatment and electricity. The electricity devices will enable Senbo to be self-sufficient while other equipment will make the company one of world's most environment-friendly pulp-making factories.

Asia Pacific Resources International Holdings Limited (APRIL) (Singapore) holds 90% of Senbo's shares. The Singaporean company has 400 million square meters of plantation in Indonesia, providing sufficient high-quality raw material for Senbo, whose smaller competitors are striving to get straw into paper.

As a country with low per-capita forest resources and facing growing need for high-quality paper for offices, China imported 7.6 million tons of wood pulp in 2005 compared with 3.35 million tons in 2000. The 2005 figure accounted for 70% of China's total wood pulp consumption that year.

Wood pulp accounts for less than 20% of China's paper-making material, leaving straw and used paper to take the larger share. China's central government has issued several regulations to curb the development of high-polluting enterprises and to welcome environment-friendly ones.

China's State Development and Reform Commission issued a policy for the paper industry's development in October 2007, saying China will develop 265 million tons of paper and paperboard making capacity and close 6.5 million tons of backward capacity before 2010.

Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading marketing information services company for the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy-related markets throughout the world. Celebrating its 25th anniversary, IIR provides accurate and timely intelligence featuring plant and project information databases, focused market databases, industry forecasting, key industry contacts, industry and territorial map products, direct marketing services and applications, and daily industry news.