Marubeni in RI pulp project

Marubeni in RI pulp project

TOKYO (AFP): Japan's Marubeni Corp. and Nippon Paper
Industries Co. Ltd. plan to join a US$1 billion pulp project in
Indonesia with local lumber company Barito Pacific, a Marubeni
spokesman said yesterday.

The spokesman for the trading house said the three partners
would set up a joint venture as early as February, marking the
first involvement of the Japanese private sector in the
Indonesian pulp industry.

The new company will be capitalized at $200 million with
Barito Pacific and its affiliates holding 80 percent and Marubeni
and Nippon Paper, Japan's top paper company, holding a combined
20 percent, he said.

With a further investment of $800 million, the venture aims to
produce 450,000 tons of pulp a year from 1997, of which about
100,000 tons will be shipped to Japan.

Construction of a new plant will start in March on a 300,000
hectare (741,000 acre) acacia plantation in Palembang on the
island of Sumatra. "We are aware of the need to preserve tropical
forests," the spokesman said.

Nippon Paper, formed through the merger of Jujo Paper and
Sanyo-Kokusaku Pulp in 1993, will provide the technology and
know-how for the plant while Finnish and other European companies
will supply most of its equipment.