Austrian Heinzel Holding opens Euro 153 million cellulose plant in Estonia

Sep 22, 2006. /Lesprom Network/. Austrian paper producer Heinzel Holding owned by Alfred Heinzel, who is also current chairman of the supervisory board of state-owned holding company OeIAG, opened a new Euro 153 million cellulose plant in the Estonian town of Kunda, APA reported. Norwegian Larvik Cell and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) each own one third of the plant. The Kunda mill will have an annual capacity of 140 000 tonnes of cellulose. The major part of the construction costs was funded by Austrian bank RZB, while a part of the machinery was delivered by Austrian technology group Andritz. The remaining plant came from Sweden and Finland. The mill which began operating with a workforce of 83 is to be further expanded. The Kunda mill is relatively small compared to other cellulose mills in Heinzel Holding, such as that in Austrian Poels which has an annual capacity of 430 000 tonnes of cellulose. The whole production of the Kunda mill will be exported to European Union and China. The marketing and sales operations of the Estonian plant will be managed by Heinzel Holding.