Metso Supplies Large Papermaking Line to Oji Paper in Japan

Helsinki, Finland, 07 February 2007 -- Metso Paper will supply Oji Paper Co., Ltd. in Japan with a large papermaking line. The new 350,000 metric tons/year PM N-1 light-weight coated paper production line will be constructed at Oji Paper's Tomioka mill in Anan City on Shikoku island. Start-up is scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2008. The total value of the order is more than EUR 100 million.

The OptiConcept paper machine will have a wire width of 10.2 m and a design speed of 2000 m/min. It is an all on-line machine, featuring the first on-line multinip calender in Japan. The delivery also includes two winders, various auxiliaries, process systems, air systems, and site services.

Oji has production facilities in Asia, Europe, North America, and New Zealand. In 2005 the company had sales of EUR 8 billion and employed nearly 20,000 people.

The Japanese paper and board industry, which currently ranks number three in the world with its 31 million annual metric tons, has recently made major investments in new capacity. Within the past 8 months, four new, large papermaking lines have been announced in the country, with Metso Paper selected as the main supplier for three of them: Nippon Paper's Ishinomaki mill PM 6, Hokuetsu Paper Mills' Niigata PM 9, and Oji Paper's Tomioka PM 1.

Metso Paper has been actively present in the Japanese pulp and paper market -- widely considered as one of the world's most demanding -- for 30 years, first in co-operation with Sumitomo Heavy Industries, and since the beginning of 2007 as an independent company, Metso Paper Japan Co., Ltd.

Metso is a global engineering and technology corporation with 2005 net sales of approximately EUR 4.2 billion. Its 25,000 employees in more than 50 countries serve customers in the pulp and paper industry, rock and minerals processing, the energy industry, and selected other industries.

www.metso.com