Genting proceeds with newsprint plant

Genting proceeds with newsprint plant

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuter): Genting Bhd said it was proceeding with plans to build a M$740 million newsprint plant which will be ready in 24 months.

Genting Sanyen Newsprint Sdn Bhd has paid a deposit to Germany's Voith Sulzer Papiermaschinen GmbH to supply and supervise erection of stock preparation systems and paper machines for the plant, Genting said in a statement.

Genting Sanyen is 99.9 percent owned by gaming group Genting.

The 250,000 metric ton plant will use old newspapers and old magazines as its primary source of raw materials.

Project costs will be 50 percent financed by equity and 50 percent by ringgit borrowing. The company expects to pull in other local companies to participate.

Malaysia now imports all its newsprint requirements which totaled some 270,000 tones a year, with forecast growth rate of four percent.

The plant will be able to supply about 85 percent of Malaysia's newsprint requirements, Genting said.

Prices of imported newsprint have been rising over the last 18 months and the landed price now stands at about $850 per ton.

Genting has been diversifying into the industrial business sector and now has a 250,000 ton paper mill and a 720 megawatt power plant.