Asia Pulp cuts profit

Asia Pulp cuts profit

SINGAPORE (Reuter): A fire at an Asia Pulp and Paper Co Ltd (APP) plant in East Java, Indonesia, will cut the operation's profits by about US$6 million, APP said in a statement received by Reuters yesterday.

It said it expected to recover about 25 percent of that by shifting certain production to alternative facilities.

APP said Friday's fire in its Tjiwi Kimia plant in Mojokerto damaged one of two stationery converting units with a capacity of 85,000 tons of stationery products per year.

"Major disruptions will occur in the production of writing pads, spiral notebooks, loose-leaf refills, stock forms, envelopes and hard book products," APP said.

It forecast production losses for the fourth quarter of 1997 at about 20,000 tons, of which about a third could be shifted to other plants.