Södra Backs out of Russian Pulp Mill Project

Södra, Sweden, this week reported that it has chosen to "leave the project" with Russia-based Angara Paper to build a new pulp mill in Russia. Södra had been invited to take part in a project to build the greenfield mill in southern Siberia. Södra's role in the project was to be an industrial partner and to handle the marketing and sales of pulp from the planned new pulp mill.

"The scope of the project has changed from the original plan. From our perspective, the project no longer fits in with our future strategy and we have therefore chosen not to continue with our involvement," said Gunilla Saltin, acting CEO and president of Södra Cell.

Construction work on the pulp mill was scheduled to start at the beginning of this year, with startup planned for 2017. It is anticipated to have a production capacity of 1.2 million metric tpy of pulp, 900,000 metric tpy of which is to be bleached hardwood pulp and 300,000 metric tpy unbleached birch and aspen pulp. About 80% of the output is aimed for export to China, Japan, and other Asian regions. Estimated costs are in the range of EUR 2.7 billion.

TAPPI
http://www.tappi.org/