english.cri.cn
Dec 21,2007
Nine Dragons Paper Holdings Ltd, China's biggest maker of containerboard, plans to invest as much as US$1 billion over the next two years to expand capacity as demand grows, the company's chief executive officer said.
Demand for paper products in China will probably outpace economic growth by five to six percentage points in coming years, CEO Liu Ming Chung said in a Bloomberg Television interview in Hong Kong, where the company is based.
China's economy, the biggest contributor to global growth, expanded more than 11 percent in each of the first three quarters of this year. Second-quarter growth of 11.9 percent was the fastest in 12 years.
Nine Dragons has said it plans to almost double capacity to 10.2 million tons by 2009 from 5.35 million tons now to meet the rising demand. The capacity expansion will cost US$400 million to US$500 million next year and about the same in 2009, Liu said.
The Hong Kong-listed company is controlled by China's richest woman, Zhang Yin.
Nine Dragons shares rose 2.9 percent to HK$18.98 in Hong Kong yesterday.
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