New Progress on 2 Million-Ton Natural Cellulose Project at APP Rudong Base

The Rudong base of King Hongye Paper (Nantong) Co., Ltd. has made the latest progress on its 2 million-ton-per-year natural cellulose project.

　　On March 17, the Nantong Municipal Bureau of Data issued an approval notice for the project, stating: "Based on the environmental impact assessment conclusion, provided that the company strictly implements the various ecological environmental protection measures and environmental risk prevention measures proposed in the Report, and that all kinds of pollutants are discharged stably and in compliance with standards without exceeding the total control limits, the project is feasible to construct at the proposed site from an environmental protection perspective only."

　　The project is located in Rudong Industrial Park, Yangkou Port Economic Development Zone, Rudong, Jiangsu Province. It involves acquiring approximately 1,800 mu of new land and purchasing specialized equipment such as cooking towers, washing machines, evaporators, alkali recovery boilers, gasification furnaces, steam turbine generators, lime kilns, wastewater treatment and reclaimed water reuse equipment. The project will construct a 2 million-ton-per-year natural cellulose production line and its supporting facilities. The products will serve the first and second phases of the APP (Rudong) base's tissue paper project and the planned fourth phase project (not for external sale). The project also includes a 400,000-ton-per-year wet pulp board production line and two wet pulp board machines.

　　The APP (Rudong) base, located in Yangkou Port Economic Development Zone, is a crucial part of the APP Group's strategic layout in China and the construction of its main base in Jiangsu Province in response to the "Belt and Road" initiative. The base has a planned total investment of 45 billion yuan and includes the construction of a tissue paper factory and supporting facilities. Phase I, with an annual production capacity of 780,000 tons of tissue paper, has been completed, achieving the world's largest single-plant tissue paper production capacity. Phase II, with an annual production capacity of 1.26 million tons of tissue paper, is yet to be constructed.

　　The project has a total investment of approximately RMB 16.4 billion. Upon completion, it is expected to generate an average annual increase in sales revenue of approximately RMB 10.1 billion and tax revenue of approximately RMB 2 billion. In addition to the simultaneous construction of a second-phase 1.26 million-ton paper mill, to achieve pulp and paper balance, subsequent projects, including specialty paper manufacturing, are also planned. Once the first and second phases of the APP (Rudong) base's paper mill projects, natural cellulose project, and specialty paper projects are fully completed, it will achieve annual sales revenue of approximately RMB 65.5 billion and comprehensive tax revenue of RMB 6.8 billion. At that time, the APP (Rudong) base will become the world's largest and most competitive integrated pulp and paper production base for household paper.