APP developing a new giant paper mill in Sumatra

Asia Pulp and Paper (APP) announced the development of a large pulp mill to be located in south Sumatra. Details are not finalized, but the mill is expected to have a nominal capacity of between 1.5 and 2.0 million tonnes per year of BHK, making it the largest single pulp line in the world. APP has been doing extensive forest conversion in Sumatra.

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Startup for the mill is being targeted for 2015-16. Starting from the very beginning in1984, APP paper mill Indah Kiat Pulp & Paper, and (ten years later) Lontar Papyrus Pulp & Paper Industry, used exclusively pulped mixed tropical hardwood (MTH) from the clearance of natural forests. Both mills continued to expand. By 2010, APP’s total pulp production capacity in Sumatra had grown to at least 2.7 million tons per year. In addition, APP had added an additional 1 million ton per year pulp mill in China in 2005. APP does not have a sufficient plantation supply to feed any of its mills but is planning to build two new pulp mills in Indonesia. APP and its fibre suppliers are estimated to be the single largest source of rainforest destruction in Sumatra. Their aggressive logging practices and continued conversion of standing forests to plantations is devastating local communities and threatening elephant, tiger, and orang-utan populations.