Asia

CHINA

China’s Hengan Group starts up seventh Andritz-supplied tissue machine

Chinese tissue producer Hengan Group has successfully started up its PM12 tissue machine at its Chongqing facility.

The scope of supply also included the complete stock preparation and machine control systems and it is the group’s seventh Andritz-supplied PrimeLine machine now in operation.

Two more machines will be started up this year, both of them equipped with the world’s largest Steel Yankees with a diameter of 4.88m.

The PM12 tissue machine, a PrimeLine TM W8 model, has a design speed of 2,100m/ min, a width of 5.6m. Andritz said it is “equipped with energy-saving components”, including the Yankee head insulation and a reevaporation system.

Chinese tissue market at risk of oversupply due to capacity explosion

China will have to face the possibility of an overcapacity issue in the tissue sector in the next few years, according to the China National Household Paper Industry Association (CNHPIA).

It is estimated that some 1.48mtpy of new tissue capacity will come online this year, said CNHPIA Secretary General Jiang Manxia at the China International Disposable Paper Expo, which was recently held in Fujian province. But that will be too much, since the Chinese tissue market can only handle new capacity of around 500,000 to 600,000tpy each year, she added.

Also, new machines that are scheduled to start up in and soon after 2013 will be able to produce a total of around 1.35mtpy.

CNHPIA’s statistics also showed that China’s tissue consumption per capita reached only 3.9kg in 2011, compared with global level of 4.2kg per capita.

Jiang explained that consumption will keep growing in China, but the investment boom over the past several years is putting the market at the risk of oversupply.

‘The influx of new players will further intensify competition.’

Among all the new tissue units coming online in 2012 and 2013, many are from major tissue producers in the country.

Hengan International will increase its total capacity to 910,000tpy this year by bringing six 60,000tpy units online.

One was commissioned in January at a new mill in Chongqing municipality, and five more will be fired up later this year.

Vinda International Holdings aims to raise its total capacity by around 150,000tpy to 620,000tpy this year, and more units are planned for next year. It is building a new site in Jiangmen city, Guangdong province, and four 20,000tpy units (larger than the previously reported 16,000tpy PMs) from Toscotec will come on stream this year.

More capacity amounting to 50,000tpy will be added to the plant next year. Meanwhile, Vinda’s existing mills in Hubei and Liaoning provinces will increase their capacities by 40,000tpy and 25,000tpy respectively by the end of this year. Another tissue giant, APP China, is also expanding aggressively in China, and looks set to bring some 660,000tpy of new capacity online, taking its tissue capacity to 1.37m tpy in China by 2013.

More players join in:

In addition to the vast investments by big tissue producers, firms known for other paper and board grades or even other industrial products have entered the tissue sector.

The change is primarily attributed to high profit margins in the tissue segment, and to other paper and board grades – especially coated fine paper – being in severe oversupply. Shandong Chenming Paper Holdings diversified into the tissue market by starting up a 60,000tpy unit in late 2010 at its mill in Weifang city, Shandong province.

In late 2011, Fushun Mining Group fired up a 60,000tpy tissue unit.

The firm, more than 100 years old, used to be one of the biggest coal mining companies in China.

And APRIL currently plans to install four 60,000tpy tissue units in China, making its first foray into the market.

The influx of new players will further intensify competition.

Meanwhile, Jiang indicated that there is no specific document that guides tissue capacity closures in China, although the country has been carrying out a massive campaign to wipe out old, small paper and board units as well as pulp lines.

The Chinese government is currently shutting down chemical wood pulp lines with a capacity below 51,000tpy, nonwood pulp lines below 34,000tpy, and recycled fibre-based pulp lines below 10,000tpy.

The same conditions also apply to printing and writing paper machines less than 1.76m wide and with a speed below 120m/min, and cartonboard, linerboard, and fluting units less than 2m wide and slower than 80m/min.

But no such detailed information can be found to direct tissue capacity closures. “It is not clear how many small tissue mills will be closed,” Jiang said.

Branding important:

Sources pointed out that the difference between tissue and other paper and board grades lies in branding.

They indicated that tissue is directly targeted at consumers, but the operation of other paper and board products follows a business-to-business dynamic.

This means tissue producers need to concentrate more on branding than other paper and board producers.

Hengan International’s chief executive Xu Lianjie stressed the importance of branding and of distribution networks during an interview with RISI.

Talking about the recent investment explosion in the sector, he explained that it is well known that the tissue segment has good profit margins, but costs are high, such as those for marketing and advertising.

To win over consumers, Hengan as a rule develops converting plants and sales channels within a new regional market in China before tackling it.

Another supplier said that making quality tissue is not the most difficult matter; the real issue is to make the end tissue products recognised by consumers.

He cited a new machine that started up last year, which is now running very well. But its owner is running it much slower than its design speed because of weak purchasing activity. “The bottleneck is the marketing and branding,” added the source.

News from RISI (www.risiinfo.com)

APRIL to build four 60,000tpy tissue units in China

Asia Pacific Resources International (APRIL) is planning to erect four 60,000tpy tissue units in China.

A pair will go to a greenfield mill in Chongqing municipality, and the other two machines will be installed at the firm’s existing site in Rizhao city, Shandong province. It will be APRIL’s first foray into the tissue sector.

A spokesperson from the company said that the firm has already received approval from authorities to build the two units in Chongqing, and it will get approval for the other two in Shandong very soon.

According to APRIL’s spokesperson, the firm intends to install the two machines in Rizhao first, and then carry on with units in Chongqing.

A timeline has not yet been established. An important feature of the foray into tissue, said the source, is that APRIL will also start building converting plants and marketing end products.

Since tissue is sold directly to consumers, producers need to have strong branding and sales teams.

In addition to converting lines planned at both Chongqing and Rizhao sites, APRIL is mulling over constructing converting plants elsewhere in the country even sooner, so as to establish its market presence.

However, this is still in the planning phase and no details are available.

APRIL currently has a combined capacity of 1.9m tpy of bleached hardwood kraft pulp and 170,000 tpy of cartonboard at its Rizhao mill.

It has also been granted a permit to build a 300,000tpy cartonboard unit at the site. The unit is planned to produce liquid packaging board, and construction is scheduled to kick off by the end of this year. Elsewhere in Guangdong province, APRIL will start up a 450,000tpy uncoated fine paper machine at a new mill in Jiangmen city in August.

Inland expansion:

Last year, the firm announced a grand expansion scheme in China. According to that initial plan, all four tissue units were to be erected at the Rizhao site.

The company did not explain the change. But it has been a trend for paper and board companies to invest in inland areas in China. Nine Dragons Paper (Holdings), for example, is building a 550,000tpy cartonboard unit at its mill in Chongqing.

It is also pressing ahead with the construction of a new mill in Xinmin city, Liaoning province, and two recycled containerboard units with a combined capacity of 700,000tpy are planned to kick off production there by the end of 2013.

Lee & Man Paper Manufacturing is also building a mill in Jiujiang city, Jiangxi province.

Two recycled containerboard units with a total capacity of 900,000tpy will start up there in 2013.

And the southwestern region, including Chongqing, is a hot market for tissue producers. Hengan International is building a 120,000tpy tissue mill in the municipality.

In neighbouring Sichuan province, Vinda International Holdings commissioned two tissue units with a combined capacity of 25,000tpy last year, and C&S Paper looks set to commission a 28,000tpy tissue machine there this year.

APP China also looks set to build a tissue mill in Sichuan. However, the site’s capacity is undetermined.

News from RISI (www.risiinfo.com)

China’s Shandong Dongshun orders two new tissue units

Shandong Dongshun Group has placed an order with Kawanoe Zoki for two new 15,000tpy tissue units.

The PMs will be installed at the firm’s mill in Taian city, Shangdong province. Their startups are scheduled for 2013.

Each will have a trim width of 3.4m and a design speed of 1,100m/min.

The firm is also building two new mills, in the provinces of Hunan and Heilongjiang. Each plant will house a 12,000tpy Kawanoe Zoki tissue unit.

According to the Japanese supplier, the PMs will be delivered soon, and are expected to be fired up later this year. News from RISI (www.risiinfo.com)

China’s Shanghai Orient Champion Paper starts up Metso-supplied tissue machine

Shanghai Orient Champion Paper has started up its Metso-supplied Advantage DCT tissue production line, TM 8, at its facility in Jinshan outside Shanghai, China.

The machine is designed for a production speed of 1,800m/min, and the scope of delivery included two complete tissue production lines, featuring one Advantage DCT 100+ and one Advantage DCT 135+ tissue machine.

Each of the lines includes stock preparation systems, comprehensive Metso DNA automation systems and Metso IQ quality control systems with steam profiler and auxiliaries.

Each of the machines is equipped with an OptiFlo headbox, a Metso Yankee cylinder, an Advantage AirCap hood, an Advantage WetDust dust management system for enhanced working environment and a ValReel reel.

In September last year, the company started up the Metso-supplied Advantage DCT TM 7 tissue production line at the facility. The two new Metso machines add another 70,000 tonnes to the mill’s production capacity. Shanghai Orient Champion Paper currently operates six smaller tissue machines and converting lines at the Jinshan mill.

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JAPAN

Japanese and South Korean tissue producers replace cast iron dryers with European-supplied Steel Yankees

Faced with flat demand and rising costs in their home markets, several tissue producers in Japan and South Korea have signed up European suppliers to upgrade the tissue machines at their mills in a bid to improve efficiency and product quality.

Italian supplier Toscotec has received one such order from Nishinihon Eizai of Japan and three from producers in South Korea – Daewang Paper, Mirae Paper and Samjung Pulp.

The companies have each ordered a 12-foot Steel Yankee Dryer to replace the old cast iron Yankee Dryers presently on their machines. Many tissue machines in the two countries are small, old units producing recycled fibrebased tissue products, mainly toilet paper and kitchen rolls.

Most of these PMs need to be upgraded in order to stay competitive, said a spokesman for the Italian supplier. One of their best options is to install the Steel Yankee Dryer, which has a thin shell and has better heat conductivity than the thick, heavy cast iron dryers, he added. He explained that the Steel Yankee Dryers will enhance the tissue machines’ runnability, and therefore boost capacity by at least 20%, while reducing energy consumption by more than 10%.

Output quality will also be improved as a result of the rebuild.

Nishinihon Eizai, which is a subsidiary of Corelex, is installing the new dryer on PM 2 at its Tatsuno mill in Hyogo prefecture. The overhaul was due for completion by the end of this month.

The rebuild is expected to boost the 2.61m wide unit’s capacity to around 9,000tpy. Daewang Paper and Mirae Paper’s rejigs are to be carried out during the summer. The former will install the steel dryer on the 16,000tpy PM 2 at its plant in Gunpo city, Gyeonggi province, while the latter will install it on the 21,000tpy PM 3 at its facility in Jeonu city, Jellabuk province.

The schedule for rebuilding Samjung Pulp’s machine at its mill in Pyeongtaek city in the country’s southwestern province of Gyeonggi has not been yet hammered out. But the overhaul is expected to be done by first quarter of next year, according to Toscotec. The Samjung Pulp revamp includes a new suction press roll as well as the new 12-foot Steel Yankee Dryer.

Another European firm, Andritz, has also tapped into the overhaul business in Japan. The Austrian supplier has just commissioned a 12-foot Steel Yankee dryer at Doh-Ei Paper’s mill in Hokkaido. (See below) Doh-Ei Paper, also a subsidiary of Corelex, operates a single 19,000tpy machine at the facility, which produces 14,500tpy of toilet paper and 4,500tpy of facial tissue, using 100% recovered paper as furnish.

The Toscotec contact pointed out that virgin fibre-based tissue products consumed in Japan and South Korea, such as facial tissues, are increasingly imported.

They come from China in particular, where a raft of new machines using wood pulp as furnish are producing such high quality products.

According to figures from China Household Paper Industry Association and researched by PPI Asia, some 1.48m tpy of new capacity is expected to come online in China this year, and in the next two years, new machines due to start up are capable of churning out 2.39m tpy. Having much higher production costs, Japanese and Korean producers are not able to invest in such machines so as to compete with their Chinese counterparts. This has left them no choice but to overhaul their existing machines and improve the quality of their products, if they intend to keep consumers from switching towards products made by domestic or international competitors, the Toscotec contact added.

News from RISI (www.risiinfo.com)

Japan’s Doh-Ei Paper starts up Steel Yankee

Japanese tissue producer Doh-Ei Paper has boosted its energy efficiency following the successful start up of an Andritz-supplied PrimeDry Steel Yankee at its Hokkaido-based mill.

Doh-Ei produces 4,500 tonnes of facial tissue and 14,500 tonnes of toilet tissue per year made from 100% recycled paper at the site in northern Japan.

The Steel Yankee has a diameter of 3.7m and a shell length of 4.3m.

In addition to increasing production and improving the runnability of the tissue machine, this investment was also intended to reduce energy costs following sharp rises in oil and gas prices.

Masashi Kobayashi, president of Doh- Ei, said: “Steel is a highly heat-conductive material. Following the installation of the Andritz PrimeDry Steel Yankee, the energy efficiency and production output of our mill will be very high.”

The company commissioned Andritz to upgrade its drying line in June 2011.

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INDIA

Toscotec boosts performance of Orient Paper’s PM2 in Ambala, India

Toscotec said it has optimised the performance of its Modulo Plus Tissue Machine in Amlai, India.

The furnish mix is made up of slush bamboo long fibre and hardwood cellulose produced in the pulp mill.

The machine is equipped with a 15″ Steel Yankee Dryer and is now producing “an excellent soft quality facial tissue”. This is the second Toscotec machine supplied to Orient Paper for the Amlai site: PM1, a section breast roll type, was installed in 1997.