Stora Enso Oyj Press Release 25 September 2006 at 11:00 GMT
Stora Enso today signed a contract with Beihai city in Guangxi province, China, to secure fibre resources. Under the contract, in the period 2006-2008 Beihai city will provide Stora Enso with a total of 30 813 hectares of plantation and land through purchasing existing plantations and establishing new plantations on forestland.
Stora Enso currently has about 60 000 hectares of hardwood industrial plantations and land usage rights in southern Guangxi. The aim is to create a sustainably managed fibre base of 160 000 hectares of plantation land by 2010 to support establishment of an integrated pulp and paper mill in Guangxi in the long term.
"The plantations and land that Beihai city will provide for Stora Enso form an integral part of the whole fibre base portfolio that will be of the utmost importance to successful forest, pulp and paper integration in Guangxi," said Elisabet Salander Björklund, Senior Executive Vice President, Stora Enso Forest Products. "We are very pleased with the progress we are making with the support of our partners."
To ensure sustainable development of the plantations, Stora Enso invited the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to carry out an Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) of the Guangxi plantations in 2005 and 2006. The assessment found that there are no major environmental or social issues that could have an impact Stora Enso's plantation project in Guangxi.
For further information, please contact:
Elisabet Salander Björklund, SEVP, Stora Enso Forest Products, tel. +46 70 578 2751
Weine Genfors, SVP, Wood Supply Plantations, Stora Enso Forest Products,
tel. +49 211 581 2220
Kari Tuomela, President, Guangxi, Stora Enso Forestry, tel. +86 139 786 61368
Previous press releases concerning Stora Enso's activities in China are available at www.storaenso.com/press:
- 20 June 2006: Stora Enso increases loan facility for its operations in China
- 25 April 2006: Stora Enso has signed a joint-venture agreement with Shandong Huatai Paper
- 3 April 2006: Corenso expands in China
- 29 March 2006: Stora Enso to sign an agreement for co-operation with UNDP China
- 10 November 2005: Stora Enso strengthens its presence in Guangxi
- 10 June 2005: Stora Enso signs loan agreement with International Financing Corporation
- 31 March 2005: UNDP to Assess Environment and Social Impact of a Forestry Investment Project in Guangxi, China
- 28 October 2004: Stora Enso joint venture in China
- 4 February 2004: Stora Enso to modernise its fine paper machine at Suzhou, China
