SPI starts sales from PM 2 in Egypt

BRUSSELS, April 04, 2008 (RISI) - Shotmed Paper Industries (SPI) is now carrying out commercial production on both uncoated woodfree paper machines at its new mill in 6th of October City, close to Cairo, Egypt.

PM 2, a 2.4 m wide 15,000 tonne/yr Sandy Hill machine, is only running for part of the day due to some delays in the delivery of control equipment.

The other 15,000 tonne/yr Sandy Hill unit, PM 1, started producing saleable paper in mid-December after coming online in October. It is now running at close to full capacity.

Production on both machines is focused on high-quality, watermarked office paper.

The mill is almost unique in the Middle East, as no other facilities there besides the Hadera mill in Israel produce woodfree paper from wood pulp, rather than alternate fiber sources like bagasse.

However, the company is looking into the possibility of using alternate fiber sources in the future.