KEMIRA FOCUSES ITS BUSINESSES IN JAPAN AND SELLS ITS JOINT VENTURE COMPANY KEMIRA-UBE LTD

Kemira is selling its 50 per cent ownership in a Japanese hydrogen peroxide joint venture company Kemira-Ube Ltd to the other joint venture partner Ube Industries Ltd. Ube will form a new hydrogen peroxide joint venture company together with the Japanese Mitshubishi Coporation. Kemira-Ube’s net sales are about 20 million euros. Kemira aims to enforce its services to Japanese pulp and paper chemicals customers and is focusing its growing business in Japan into fully owned Kemira Japan KK.

 

Asia is a growing market area for Kemira. There is also strong growth taking place in China and Southeast Asia. Kemira has just opened a new Asia Technology center in Shanghai and started up paper chemicals production in Yixing, China. – Solutions to pulp and paper chemicals customers are delivered through these units with the support of Kemira’s worldwide technology and know-how platform and production network, says Jarmo Savolainen, Senior Vice President, Kemira Pulp Chemicals.

 

Kemira runs hydrogen peroxide plants in Finland, Sweden, the Netherlands, Canada and is currently starting up a new mill in Uruguay in South America, world’s fastest growing pulp producing area. – We see a new geographical focus in global pulp production as new pulp mills are taken into use and we aim to follow this development with our capacity, Savolainen continues. – The market for hydrogen peroxide is currently under pricing pressure in Western Europe but we believe that total bleaching concept that we offer to our customers will help us to build more profitability in our bleaching business, he continues. 

 

Kemira Pulp&Paper is the leading supplier of pulp and paper chemicals. Its extensive solutions cover the entire value chain from pulp to paper coating. In 2006, Kemira Pulp&Paper business area had revenue of EUR 993 million and a payroll of approximately 2,300 employees. It is present in 30 countries.