Stora Enso has signed an agreement with Gaofeng Forest - Pulp & Paper Company to purchase 34 000 ha of timber and land use rights in several state-owned farms owned by Gaofeng, a company assigned by the Guangxi government to be the Chinese owner of an integrated forest, pulp and paper project in southern coastal Guangxi. The agreement enables Stora Enso to increase the area of land concession rights and wholly-owned plantations in Guangxi province in southern China to about 60 000 ha.
Stora Enso started investing in Guangxi in 2002 with the aim of establishing 120 000 ha of industrial hardwood plantations to provide fibre for integrated pulp, paper and board production in southern Guangxi.
"We have started the application process for an integrated forest industry project in Guangxi, including annual production capacity of about 1 000 000 tonnes of chemical and chemi-thermomechanical pulp, and about 1 000 000 tonnes of paper and board. Guangxi is one of the few places in China where Stora Enso could build a pulp, paper and board mill complex close to plantations," explains Markku Pentikäinen, President of Stora Enso Asia Pacific.
The industrial development project in the region is subject to final approval by Stora Enso's Board of Directors.
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has carried out an Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) of the Guangxi plantations with the aim of assessing all their environmental and social impacts and recommending how any adverse effects might be minimised. This assessment has included scenarios of up to 120 000 ha of plantations.