Emami to invest Rs 1,000 cr on doubling paperboard capacity

Will compete with players like ITC, JK Paper and Century in the high end paperboard market

Emami Paper Mills is investing Rs 1,000 crore to double the capacity of its paperboard unit at Balgopalpur near here in the next three years. “The current capacity is 132,000 tonnes per annum.

In the next three years, this will be doubled,” said P S Patwari, chief executive officer. Trial production has been on since April. Commercial production should begin next month.

“The size of the high-end paperboard market is estimated at 700,000 tonnes per annum. We aim to capture 20 per cent of this. Our facility will roll out multilayer coated paperboard, catering to high-end users in sectors like fast moving consumer goods and pharmaceuticals,” he said. Competitors in the segment include ITC, JK Paper and Century Pulp & Paper. The overall paperboard market size is around three million tonnes annually.

The bulk is supplied by smaller, unorganised entities. Emami's paperboard unit would entirely use imported pulp, sourced from North America, Europe, New Zealand and Scandinavia.

Emami also has a newsprint unit here, with a capacity of 145,000 tonnes a year.

The high-end paperboard market in the country is is estimated to be growing at 15 per cent yearly, fuelled by increased consumer spending and growth in the organised retail sector. Separately, another Emami Group company, Emami Cement, hopes to put on stream a grinding unit at Tangi near Cuttack in the next 12 months.

“We are investing Rs 500 crore (for that). Emami Cement has been allotted 80 acres,” said Aditya Agarwal, group director. The cement grinding unit would have a capacity of 1.5 million tonnes annually.