SCG PAPER OPENS NEW PAPER PRODUCTION LINE LOCAL AND OVERSEAS PRINT AND WRITING PAPER MARKET TARGETED Innovative production technology helps minimize resource consumption and environmental impact
SCG Paper celebrates the official opening of its latest state-of-the-art and environmental friendly Bt7.3 billion production line for its premium print and copy paper at Khon Kaen plant. With 200,000 tonnes per annum production capacity, the new production line will enable SCG Paper to better meet significantly increasing local and overseas market demand for the premium printing and writing paper and gain stronger ground in the regional market.
This new paper production line is located at Phoenix Pulp and Paper Plant in Khon Kaen province. It produces uncoated printing and writing paper, including pound and offset paper for high quality printing (Offset PRO) and premium quality paper for copying machine. The product has superior whiteness, opacity, smoothness and stiffness.
Mr. Kan Trakulhoon, President and CEO, Siam Cement Group (SCG), said after chairing the official opening of the new production line, “SCG strongly commits to operating sustainable business and environment protection. We seriously introduce environmental management measures in our entire production process and services, natural resource rehabilitation, environmentally friendly product and service research and development, and public activities to promote cooperation in environment preservation. All these form the core of our corporate social responsibility practice. And, all these can be achieved successfully only when everyone works closely together like what we see today.”
Mr. Chaovalit Ekabut, President of SCG Paper, said, “The uncoated printing and writing paper market, especially offset paper and paper for copying machine, has been growing dramatically at 6-8% per annum during the past couple of years. Despite weak demand for premium printing and writing paper at present due to economic recession, we expect the market demand to resume and grow in the future.”
SCG Paper won approval from the board of directors and shareholders in 2006 to make Bt7.3 billion investment in this printing and writing paper production project. With 200,000 tonnes per annum production capacity, the facility mainly produces premium printing and writing paper for domestic market and some will be exported to the region. The construction started in 2007 followed by machine installation and test-run in 2008. The official opening of the production line commences in April 2009.
The project won promotional privileges, including tax exemption on imported machineries and other tax incentives, from the Board of Investment (BOI).
The latest global technology for producing uncoated printing and writing paper has been deployed at the facility in order to produce high quality products in terms of opacity, smoothness, whiteness and stiffness.
In addition, the latest technology and production process significantly save a lot of natural resources used, reduce water consumption in the entire production process by 30-50%, and significantly reduce energy consumption. This mill integrates pulp production and paper production processes together, resulting in signification reduction in energy consumed in paper drying and raw material transportation.
The plant also use recycle waste to produce alternative energy for the production process. For example, biomass from pulp production and sewage treatment system is used for producing energy to replace coals. Such biomass is for example, bark, dust and sediment from sewage treatment system. This is not only a way to maximize the use of natural resources but also an elimination of landfill according to SCG’s Zero Landfill policy.
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Thursday, November 12, 2009
SCG Paper promotes premium product
SCG Paper is heavily marketing its Idea Work premium-grade paper in a bid to double its paper sales to Bt1 billion next year, from Bt500 million expected this year.
"The challenge is to persuade users to shift from standard to premium paper. That's why we have to conduct roadshows in offices, to offer paper samples for testing before making the decision to use it," business manager Danaidej Ketsuwan said yesterday.
The company is rolling out aggressive marketing activities for premium-grade paper aimed at corporate and end-users, backed by b Bt100-million promotional budget.
SCG Paper made paper products for industry before entering the enterprise and individual end-user markets last year with th launch of its Idea brand.
At that time, the company introduced Idea Green paper and received good feedback from state agencies, corporations and students.
The government has a policy of procuring green products, which boosted sales of the company's green paper, as well.
SCG Paper this year brought out an innovative paper, product called Idea Work, to tap customers requiring high-quality paper for work. Idea Work paper is priced higher than standard and green paper, by Bt2 to Bt110 a pack.
Despite being more costly, consumers needing high-quality paper for activities like presentations and printing will like it.
Total paper consumption this year is expected to climb 6 per cent to 200,000 tonnes.
One positive factor driving paper consumption is cheaper prices for printers.
The company targets its two paper products to grab 15-20 per cent of the market next year.
Premium paper accounts for 30-40 per cent of the Bt6-billion paper market.
"The challenge is to persuade users to shift from standard to premium paper. That's why we have to conduct roadshows in offices, to offer paper samples for testing before making the decision to use it," business manager Danaidej Ketsuwan said yesterday.
The company is rolling out aggressive marketing activities for premium-grade paper aimed at corporate and end-users, backed by b Bt100-million promotional budget.
SCG Paper made paper products for industry before entering the enterprise and individual end-user markets last year with th launch of its Idea brand.
At that time, the company introduced Idea Green paper and received good feedback from state agencies, corporations and students.
The government has a policy of procuring green products, which boosted sales of the company's green paper, as well.
SCG Paper this year brought out an innovative paper, product called Idea Work, to tap customers requiring high-quality paper for work. Idea Work paper is priced higher than standard and green paper, by Bt2 to Bt110 a pack.
Despite being more costly, consumers needing high-quality paper for activities like presentations and printing will like it.
Total paper consumption this year is expected to climb 6 per cent to 200,000 tonnes.
One positive factor driving paper consumption is cheaper prices for printers.
The company targets its two paper products to grab 15-20 per cent of the market next year.
Premium paper accounts for 30-40 per cent of the Bt6-billion paper market.
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
SCG sees flat sales until US revives
SCG Paper, The country's largest paper manufacturer,expects no sales growth from last year as the US economy has not recovered enough to drive global demand.
SCG Paper has sourced scrap paper from the United States where declining purchasing power has lowered the price by around 30% this year, said president Chaovalit Ekabut.
"The US has yet to see an economic recovery. In large cities people are still buying, but not in the towns where there aren't a lot of people," he said.
However, the price of scrap paper has seen a small increase since the end of the third quarter. Paper scrap is currently traded at $160 to $170 per tonne,compared with the record high of $250 in June last year.
Paper scrap, which is used in paper production, may be more expensive if oil prices rise further. The price of shortfibre pulp has also risen from a range of $520-530 to $560, pushing the prices of printing and writing paper up marginally.
Meanwhile, China is expected to increase its paper production by another 2 million tonnes next year and that will drive the demand and prices of raw material to rise further.
"However, we are not planning to stock more raw material because we are studying the possibility of using alternative materials that are easy to buy locally, such as weeds," said Mr Chaovalit.
In Thailand, demand for packaging paper and printing paper has rebounded since the third quarter and the market has already returned to the same levels as last year. The price of packaging paper is on the rise and should be stable at around $150-160 a tonne at the end of this quarter, he added.
In the third quarter of this year, SCG Paper's sales totalled 11.23 billion baht,up 6% from the second quarter but still down 9% compared to the same period of 2008 due to lower product prices. Net profit was 701 million baht, up 10% on a quarterly basis and 13% year-on-year.
Mr Chaovalit said packaging paper sales fell 7% in the first nine months while printing paper declined by 11%.However, third-quarter sales of packaging paper grew by 3% compared to last year.
Positive annualised growth is foreseen in the fourth quarter, driving the paper market in Thailand to the same level as last year."Growth of zero would still be fine," Mr Chaovalit said.
SCG Paper's 5-billion-baht paper plant in Vietnam, which has been operating since the second quarter, will raise its production in November and December.He projects it will contribute around 2.5 billion baht to the sales next year.
Shares of Siam Cement (SCC) closed on Friday on the Stock Exchange of Thailand at 204 baht, unchanged, in trade worth 423 million baht.
SCG Paper has sourced scrap paper from the United States where declining purchasing power has lowered the price by around 30% this year, said president Chaovalit Ekabut.
"The US has yet to see an economic recovery. In large cities people are still buying, but not in the towns where there aren't a lot of people," he said.
However, the price of scrap paper has seen a small increase since the end of the third quarter. Paper scrap is currently traded at $160 to $170 per tonne,compared with the record high of $250 in June last year.
Paper scrap, which is used in paper production, may be more expensive if oil prices rise further. The price of shortfibre pulp has also risen from a range of $520-530 to $560, pushing the prices of printing and writing paper up marginally.
Meanwhile, China is expected to increase its paper production by another 2 million tonnes next year and that will drive the demand and prices of raw material to rise further.
"However, we are not planning to stock more raw material because we are studying the possibility of using alternative materials that are easy to buy locally, such as weeds," said Mr Chaovalit.
In Thailand, demand for packaging paper and printing paper has rebounded since the third quarter and the market has already returned to the same levels as last year. The price of packaging paper is on the rise and should be stable at around $150-160 a tonne at the end of this quarter, he added.
In the third quarter of this year, SCG Paper's sales totalled 11.23 billion baht,up 6% from the second quarter but still down 9% compared to the same period of 2008 due to lower product prices. Net profit was 701 million baht, up 10% on a quarterly basis and 13% year-on-year.
Mr Chaovalit said packaging paper sales fell 7% in the first nine months while printing paper declined by 11%.However, third-quarter sales of packaging paper grew by 3% compared to last year.
Positive annualised growth is foreseen in the fourth quarter, driving the paper market in Thailand to the same level as last year."Growth of zero would still be fine," Mr Chaovalit said.
SCG Paper's 5-billion-baht paper plant in Vietnam, which has been operating since the second quarter, will raise its production in November and December.He projects it will contribute around 2.5 billion baht to the sales next year.
Shares of Siam Cement (SCC) closed on Friday on the Stock Exchange of Thailand at 204 baht, unchanged, in trade worth 423 million baht.
SCG PAPER TURNS TO ALTERNATIVE PULP MATERIALS
SCG Paper is resorting to other materials for paper pulp-making, to ease the expected increase in global waste paper prices due to higher demand from China.
President Chaovalit Ekabut said that the other materials for pulp-making, would offer the same quality as waste paper. Importantly, the production cost should be lower than when using waste paper to be imported from the United States.
The paper unit of the Siam Cement Group expects the global demand for waste paper next year to increase due to the business resumption of paper manufacturers in China.
Chaovalit said several Chinese paper manufacturers have resumed their operations after suspensions during the economic crisis. Those companies will have to order waste paper from the US, which is the largest supplier.
The move of Chinese paper-makers might affect other paper manufacturers including SCG Paper because the company is one of those that purchases scrap paper from the US to be made into new paper products.
Chinese paper manufacturers are expected to order a lot of scrap paper. They are expected to produce 2 million tonnes next year.
Chavalit said the company has to reduce risk from the expected shortage of scrap paper by considering using another material that is not made from scrap paper, such as weeds.
Other material prices should be lower than scrap paper, he said.
He said that the resumption of Chinese paper manufacturing has driven scrap paper prices up from the current level of between US$160 (Bt5,350) and $170 per tonne.
However, the scrap paper price is not expected to increase to $250 like in 2008, because of the low paper consumption of the US. The low consumption in the US is in line with the country's economic crisis. The consumption of paper this year dropped by 30 per cent.
In addition, the company believes the economic situation has bottomed out because sales revenue and net profit in the third quarter improved from the second quarter, he said.
SCG paper earned sales revenue of Bt11.23 billion, up 6 per cent from the second quarter while net |profit increased by 10 per cent to Bt701 million from the last quarter and increased 13 per cent year on year.
Chavalit noted that the pick up of sales revenue in the third quarter might help the total sales revenue this year meet flat growth or drop a little from last year's Bt47 billion. The company earlier predicted a plunge in sales in 2009 due to the crisis.
He said that the company outlook next year should be brighter because it will realise full revenue from a new paper craft plant in Vietnam. The company expected the plant in Vietnam would contribute Bt2.5 billion in sales revenue next year.
Chavalit added that besides the new plant in Vietnam, the company is ready for new investment. One of SCG Paper's investments is the merger and acquisition of paper plants in Thailand and overseas.
He could not reveal the investment budget for M&A, but said the M&As should be seen soon.
President Chaovalit Ekabut said that the other materials for pulp-making, would offer the same quality as waste paper. Importantly, the production cost should be lower than when using waste paper to be imported from the United States.
The paper unit of the Siam Cement Group expects the global demand for waste paper next year to increase due to the business resumption of paper manufacturers in China.
Chaovalit said several Chinese paper manufacturers have resumed their operations after suspensions during the economic crisis. Those companies will have to order waste paper from the US, which is the largest supplier.
The move of Chinese paper-makers might affect other paper manufacturers including SCG Paper because the company is one of those that purchases scrap paper from the US to be made into new paper products.
Chinese paper manufacturers are expected to order a lot of scrap paper. They are expected to produce 2 million tonnes next year.
Chavalit said the company has to reduce risk from the expected shortage of scrap paper by considering using another material that is not made from scrap paper, such as weeds.
Other material prices should be lower than scrap paper, he said.
He said that the resumption of Chinese paper manufacturing has driven scrap paper prices up from the current level of between US$160 (Bt5,350) and $170 per tonne.
However, the scrap paper price is not expected to increase to $250 like in 2008, because of the low paper consumption of the US. The low consumption in the US is in line with the country's economic crisis. The consumption of paper this year dropped by 30 per cent.
In addition, the company believes the economic situation has bottomed out because sales revenue and net profit in the third quarter improved from the second quarter, he said.
SCG paper earned sales revenue of Bt11.23 billion, up 6 per cent from the second quarter while net |profit increased by 10 per cent to Bt701 million from the last quarter and increased 13 per cent year on year.
Chavalit noted that the pick up of sales revenue in the third quarter might help the total sales revenue this year meet flat growth or drop a little from last year's Bt47 billion. The company earlier predicted a plunge in sales in 2009 due to the crisis.
He said that the company outlook next year should be brighter because it will realise full revenue from a new paper craft plant in Vietnam. The company expected the plant in Vietnam would contribute Bt2.5 billion in sales revenue next year.
Chavalit added that besides the new plant in Vietnam, the company is ready for new investment. One of SCG Paper's investments is the merger and acquisition of paper plants in Thailand and overseas.
He could not reveal the investment budget for M&A, but said the M&As should be seen soon.
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