Asia Pulp to expand operations

Asia Pulp to expand operations

NEW YORK (Reuter): Asia Pulp & Paper Company Ltd said on
Thursday it would install three new paper machines at its mills
in Indonesia, build a pulp mill in Malaysia and expand its
operations in China.

Two paper machines costing US$300 million each would be
installed at Asia Pulp's publicly listed subsidiaries, PT Indah
Kiat Pulp & Paper Corp and PT Pabrik Kertas Tjiwi Kimia, the
company said in a statement.

These machines each had production capacity of 425,000 tons
and were set to come on line in the 1998 third quarter.

In Malaysia, Asia Pulp's 60 percent-owned Borneo Pulp & Paper
planned to spend about $1.1 billion to build a pulp mill with
capacity of 750,000 tons per year, the company said.

This was still subject to final approval from the Malaysian
government and was due to start production in the first half of
1999, it said.

Asia also said a wholly owned subsidiary in China planned to
install a converting facility with an annual capacity of 100,000
tons at a cost of about $27 million.

The Yalong Paper Products Co Ltd facility in Yushan Town,
China was due to start commercial production by mid-1997, the
company said.

Indonesia-based PT Pindo Deli Pulp & Paper Mills, 83.6
percent-owned by Asia Pulp, was also planning to expand its
tissue paper production capacity by 70,000 tons by installing a
machine costing about $125 million, the company said.

This machine would begin commercial production in the first
quarter 1999, it said.

Asia Pulp & Paper company had annual sales of about $2 billion
last year, it said.