Sun Paper states in its 3rd Quarter Performance Report that construction of the company’s “forest-paper integration project” in Guangxi, Southern China is in full speed, with expected start-up of a tissue paper mill in 2021 and a pulp mill by June 2022. The news is confirmed by ANDRITZ – the world class technology and equipment supplier – who will supply two PrimeLine tissue machines at a design speed of 2,000 m/min and trim width of 5.65/m each for the planned run in 2021. Prior to this, ANDRITZ also supplied pulp dewatering and white liquor plant technologies, key process equipment, and a chemi-thermomechanical pulping system to the Sun Paper project in June 2020.

In June 2019, Sun Paper announced the project. To be constructed in two phases with a total pulp and paper capacity of 3.5 million/mtpy after completion, the first will include a 550,000/ mtpy fine paper mill, a 150,000/mtpy tissue mill, a 800,000/mtpy chemical pulp mill and a 600,000/mtpy chemi-mechanical pulp mill. To help project execution, Sun Paper has also pumped in RMB1 billion to boost the paid-in capital of its fully-owned subsidiary – Sun Paper (Guangxi) – to RMB1.5 billion. By end-September 2020, Sun Paper (Guangxi) had total assets at RMB1.64 billion and liability at RMB1.14 billion. Pending for revenue, it had a net loss at RMB3.88 million.

Parent company - Sun Paper - was incorporated in 1982 as a small and low-end paper and board producer in Yanzhou, upper China’s Shandong Province. Privatization took place in 2000. Since then, Sun Paper has been on steady growth and become a conglomerate integrating such business as paper/paperboard production and conversion, power generation, chemicals and construction materials production and sales, etc. In the first 3 quarters of 2020, sales revenue of Sun Paper totaled RMB15.64 billion (though -4.65% from the same period of 2019) and net earnings RMB1.38 billion (-6.93%).

Being one of the top-10 pulp, paper and board producers in China, Sun Paper runs a number of jumbo size coated SBS board, offset paper, containerboard and tissue paper machines in China. In 2016, the company invested to build a 700,000/mtpy fluff pulp mill in Arkansas, USA, though cancelled in 2019 as a result of the company strategic reposition. However, its 1.2 million/mtpy pulp and paper project in Laos continues, with a 400,000/mtpy recycled pulp mill in business operation in 2019 and two testliner machines – each at 400,000/mtpy - scheduled to start up in the first half of 2021, just in time to benefit the zero import duty of testliner exports from Laos to China effective from December 1st, 2020 recently announced by China Customs. By end-June 2020, Sun Paper has expanded its pulp, paper and board capacity to 8.3 million/mtpy. Upon ultimate completion of the Guangxi project, total pulp, paper and paperboard capacity of Sun Paper will top 11 million/mtpy.