U.S. firm builds bagasse pulp and paper mill in Thailand

Southeast Asia's largest and most modern pulp- and- paper production complex, Siam Kraft Paper Co (Ban Pong, Thailand), built by a United States firm and financed by United States and Thai private and government sources, recently started production. Because of a shortage of conventional pulpwood in Thailand, the mill was designed to utilize as a raw material the sugarcane stalks that were formerly discarded or burned as fuel at the numerous sugar mills near the site of the paper mill in Ban Pong, a small town 60 mi west of Bangkok. The mill will produce 190 tpd of kraft paper and6 tpd of bagasse pulp. The mill is producing kraft bagging material for packaging fertilizer and other industrial products. Unbleached kraft softwood pulp is imported to supply long fiber for the input to the mill. Long- range plans call for the development of sources of long fiber, including bamboo and kenaf, from with Thailand.