SCA Östrand plant Photo: SCA

18 Jun 2019

NIB finances one of the world’s largest bleached softwood kraft pulp mill in Sweden

NIB and the Swedish forest company Svenska Cellulosa Aktiebolaget SCA have signed a SEK 1 billion (EUR 96.37 million) loan agreement to finance the expansion of production capacity of bleached softwood kraft pulp at the SCA Östrand plant in the municipality of Timrå, Sweden.

The expansion will more than double softwood pulp production at the company’s Östrand facility from the current 430,000 tonnes to 900,000 tonnes. This will make the Östrand plant one of the world’s largest production line for bleached kraft pulp.

The use of the work force at the facility will remain almost the same, implying a doubling of labour productivity at the facility, measured in output quantities.

The bi-products from the pulping process will increase significantly, annually yielding 17,000 tonnes of talloil and turpentine e.g. for production of biofuels and about 500 GWh of power, steam and district heat for external use.

The investment is expected to have notable implications for the forestry sector in Sweden, and add baseload energy to the local district heating system and to the Nordic power markets.

The loan has a maturity of ten years.

The core of SCA’s business is the forest, Europe’s largest private forest holding. The forest products company offers paper for packaging and print, pulp, wood products, renewable energy, services for forest owners and transport solutions. In 2018, SCA had approximately 4,000 employees. SCA was founded in 1929 and has its headquarters in Sundsvall, Sweden.

NIB is an international financial institution owned by eight member countries: Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway and Sweden. The Bank finances private and public projects in and outside the member countries. NIB has the highest possible credit rating, AAA/Aaa, with the leading rating agencies Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s.

For further information, please contact
Mr Kim Krokfors, Senior Manager Lending, at +358 10 618 0517, kim.krokfors@nib.int

Mr Arild Moen, Senior Communications Officer, at +358 10 618 0496, arild.moen@nib.int

Related resources

11 Jun 2019

Svenska Cellulosa Aktiebolaget SCA

EUR 96.37 million