Swazi Paper Mills Ltd

completed

The proposed IFC loan is to assist the upgrading one of two Kraft paper machines (designated KPM2) at Swazi Paper Mills Limited (SPM). The project is central to the sponsor''s plan to rationalize production and supply of fluting and liner material to the South African corrugated box manufacturing industry. KPM1 currently produces only test liner material and the other Kraft paper machine (KPM2) produces both test liner and fluting. KPM2 has been upgraded progressively since 1999 to increase paper width and to increase production capacity. This latest upgrade would enable the machine to produce only fluting and allow the sponsor to dedicate both KPM1 and KPM2 to producing only fluting material, while all test liners are produced at Unicell, the sponsor’s new paper mill in Johannesburg, South Africa. The machine upgrade and production change at SPM is expected to lead to increased production and cost saving. KPM2 was installed in 1995, financed partly with an IFC loan, which will be repaid in September 2002.