Metso Paper will deliver a light-weight fluting machine and a linerboard machine to Nine Dragon Paper (ND Paper), with startup of the lines scheduled for early 2009. While the value of the order has not disclosed, the market value of these types of board machines is around US$73.56 million (EUR 50 million) per unit, depending on the scope of delivery.

The 7.25-m-wide fluting machine will have a production capacity of 1,400 m/min. The complete 3-ply linerboard machine will have a wire width of 7.25 m and a production capacity of 1,150 m/min. It will produce kraft top liner and testliner grades.

Currently, ND Paper’s Guangdong facility has a white top linerboard production capacity of 400,00 tonnes/year, while its Taicang plant in Jiangsu will soon be able to produce up to 450,000 tonnes/year of white top linerboard when it starts production in mid-2008. This will bring ND Paper’s total production capacity of white top linerboard to 850,000 tonnes/year by June 2008.

ND Paper also has two paper machines in Dongguan capable of producing white top linerboard and coated white top linerboard, at a total production capacity of 950,000 tonnes/year. At the moment, the company uses the machines in Dongguan for coated duplex board production.

All in all, as of November 2007, ND Paper disclosed in a statement that its p[resent total production capacity is 5.35 million tonnes/year, and is expected to hit 7.75 million tonnes/year in June 2008. By 2009, production capacity will reach 10.15 million tonnes/year.

ND Paper was established in 1995 and listed in the Hong Kong Exchanges in 2006.