Lee & Man Fires up New Tissue Machine in Jiangxi, China

In China, Lee & Man Paper Manufacturing has fired up a new 17,000-mtpy tissue machine at its plant in Jiujiang city, Jiangxi province. The first sheet of paper rolled off the line in mid September.

Provided by domestic supplier Baotuo Paper Machinery Engineering, the machine has a trim width of 2.85 m and a design speed of 1,300 m/min.

Dubbed TM 18, it is the first of six identical units coming online at the Jiujiang mill. The other five are scheduled to be fired up in the following 30 days.

After their startups, the company will boast a total tissue capacity of around 970,000 mtpy, strengthening its position as one of the largest producers in China.

Currently all of Lee & Man’s tissue paper capacity is in China. But the Hong Kong-listed company is reportedly teaming up with Japan’s Hokuetsu Corporation on a $3 billion investment plan to build an industrial complex in the north-central coastal province of Ha Tinh in Vietnam over four years.

The entire project, which is designed to cover an area of 6,000 hectares in Vung Ang Economic Zone, will include a deepwater seaport, a logistics center and a paper mill with 1 million mtpy of tissue capacity, Vietnamese media reported.

Ha Tinh government officials have raised concerns over potential environmental risks and the sizeable land required after meeting with the two investors earlier this month.

The director of the provincial Department of Planning and Investment said the province does not prioritize paper production projects in the economic zone, according to local media.

Other officials were not satisfied with the clarity of the proposal for the seaport and the logistics center. The two investors were asked to prepare more detailed studies about the material, technology and land to be used for the proposed complex.

Neither Lee & Man nor Hokuetsu currently produce tissue in Vietnam. The former operates a board mill in the southern province of Hau Giang, where it commissioned a 550,000-mtpy recycled containerboard machine in 2017.

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