SCA, the Swedish paper-product company, has announced that its ongoing expansion project at the Östrand pulp mill will increase bleached kraft-pulp capacity from 430,000 to 900,000 tonnes per year.
SCA reports that the total investment amounts to approximately SEK 7.8 billion (€800 million), SEK 3.1 billion (€317 million) of which was invested by the end of the first quarter of 2017.
Production at the mill is planned to start in June 2018, and an extended stoppage period will have to be implemented ahead of this date.
However, the group reports that the loss of production capacity from the stoppage is expected to be compensated by increased capacity in the remainder of 2018. It expects to reach full capacity by 2020.
Competitiveness
The investment in Östrand aims to strengthen the mill’s competitiveness and create a 'world-class cost position'.
This will be achieved through ‘a doubling of productivity per employee, the possibility of increasing deliveries by rail, lowering electricity and heating consumption per tonne produced by 27% and 44%, respectively, and through an electricity surplus to be sold in the market’.
The company posted an organic sales increase of 1% for the first quarter of the year.
© 2017 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Aidan O’Sullivan. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine.
