UPM starts buidling new 360,000 tonnes/year specialty papers machine at its Changshu, China, mill, with startup expected by end of 2015; project's scope revised to focus more on infrastructure investments, lowering cost to €277M from €390M

Debra Garcia

HELSINKI , February 28, 2014 (press release) – UPM implements the construction of the third production unit on its Changshu mill in China with improved capital efficiency. With the investment, the company is strengthening its leading global position in labelling materials as a cost competitive high quality supplier. The Changshu investment was announced August 7th, 2012.

The investment scope has been moderately revised by specifying more focused infrastructure investments as compared to the original scope. Instead of constructing a new power plant, UPM will upgrade existing boilers providing opportunity to consider more environmentally effective fuels or solutions for the mill’s energy supply in the future. The mill also aims at utilizing existing facilities more effectively instead of building new infrastructure. With the revised plan the investment cost is EUR 277 million instead of the original EUR 390 million.

“We have set ourselves clear targets for focused growth initiatives over the next three years in biofuels, speciality papers in Asia, label materials and pulp production. With these initiatives we are targeting an additional EUR 200 million EBITDA when in full operation. The return on the Changshu investment is attractive and is expected to bring a significant contribution to our EBITDA growth target,” says Jussi Pesonen, UPM’s CEO and President.

“The Changshu investment is targeted to serve growing end uses in Asia markets with wide range of release liner materials and speciality products. This investment is implemented in our existing platform in Changshu, and will give us competitive production cost base through local synergies. The business fundamentals for the investment continue to be positive as both release liner materials and uncoated woodfree office and speciality papers enjoy a healthy demand outlook in Asia,” says Kim Poulsen, Executive Vice President, UPM Paper Asia.

The annual growth of labelling materials is expected to be globally ca. 4 %. More than half of the global growth takes place in Asia with annual growth over 8%. The most attractive growth markets are China, Southeast Asia and India.

The new machine is capable of producing up to 360,000 tonnes of speciality papers and labelling materials. The machine will start up at the end of 2015.

Pictures from Changshu: http://pet.upm.com/?cart=7691-fggcahiljl&l=EN

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UPM Paper Asia is the world’s leading producer of fine papers and label papers, serving customers in Magazine Publishing & Advertising, Merchants, Catalogues and Offices. A leader in sustainable and high performance papers, UPM Paper Asia’s production is located in China and Finland. With headquarters in China, UPM Paper Asia employs approximately 1,700 people in China, Finland, Japan, Korea, Singapore and Australia.

Through the renewing of the bio and forest industries, UPM is building a sustainable future across six business areas: UPM Biorefining, UPM Energy, UPM Raflatac, UPM Paper Asia, UPM Paper Europe and North America and UPM Plywood. Our products are made of renewable raw materials and are recyclable. We serve our customers worldwide. The group employs around 21,000 people and its annual sales are approximately € 10 billion. UPM shares are listed on NASDAQ OMX Helsinki. UPM – The Biofore Company – www.upm.com 

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