Tuesday, January 10, 2017 11:15 am

CHINA (Press Release) -- Kemira announced that it will make a multi-million euro investment in the production line expansion of sizing agent (ASA) at its Nanjing site in China.

Sizing agents are used for improving water-resistance in middle to high end paper and in packaging board. This investment in the most modern ASA production facility globally and the only major ASA production unit in APAC, will expand Kemira's ASA production capacity substantially. The new capacity is expected to be available from December 2017 onwards.

"Kemira is the leading producer and supplier of sizing agents (ASA) in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) market. In order to further strengthen our leading position we are expanding our production in Nanjing for the future growth. The Asian pulp and paper market is growing around 3% in a year in total and even faster for consumer board. This is linked to the increased living standards and the growth of online shopping. There are also new investments of printing and writing paper machines in China, India and the rest of South East Asia. ASA is an important product in our TCM (Total Chemistry Management) strategy and we see growth opportunities all over the Asia-Pacific to provide cutting edge ASA technology and replace older sizing technologies," says Nichlas Kavander, Head of Regional Business Unit, Pulp & Paper, APAC.

The Nanjing site is located in the Nanjing Chemical Industry Park, Jiangsu Province. It provides a wide range of functional and process chemicals for water-intensive industries such as the pulp and paper industry. The total estimated annual capacity at the site is approximately 100,000 tons. Nanjing site is equipped with cutting-edge facilities offering the highest quality, featuring a high degree of automation and use of sophisticated IT-systems in the production process.

*****

Take our annual reader survey here