Tan Mai to build new newsprint mill in Vietnam

SINGAPORE, May 22, 2008 (RISI) - Tan Mai Paper has revealed plans to splash out Dong 3,000 billion ($186 million) on building a new newsprint plant in central Vietnam.

The state-owned firm intends to install a 150,000 tonne/yr PM and a 100,000 tonne/yr deinked pulp line at the facility, which will be located in the Binh Son district of the central province of Quang Ngai. Output will be sold mostly in the domestic market.

The timeline has not yet been set but the company has already applied for the required permits, a spokesman told PPI Asia News. Further details were not revealed, although a statement from the provincial authorities named Metso Paper as the main supplier for the scheme.

Expansions in the pipeline

Tan Mai plans to overhaul one of the three PMs at its 66,000 tonne/yr newsprint, printing/writing and kraft paper Bien Hoa mill in Dong Nai province.

It will relocate the machine to its subsidiary’s plant, Binh An Paper’s 56,000 tonne/yr tissue and printing/writing paper facility in the southern province of Binh Duong.

The company will also install a 200,000 tonne/yr second-hand coated fine paper unit at the Bien Hoa mill later this year. The scheme involves a new 230,000 tonne/yr bleached chemi-thermomechanical pulp line as well.

The firm aims to develop some 50,000 ha of acacia plantations in nearby Dak Lak province for the Bien Hoa expansion project.

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