Sappi expects to grow its dissolving wood pulp production capacity by about 50% over the next five years, says the group’s Southern Africa CEO, Alex Thiel. "Worldwide growth rates are about 4.5%. We’re quite fortunate in that our two main customers are really frontrunners and we see our capacity growth in dissolving pulp at about 8.5% per annum for the next five years — so we’re desperate in terms of adding capacity at this stage." Sappi is investing in its dissolving wood pulp business to mitigate declining demand for paper. Dissolving wood pulp is used to produce viscose fibre for clothing and textiles, among other applications. "There’s strong demand, we’re getting good pricing," Thiel told Business Day. Demand was being driven by a global shortage of cotton and a general preference for clothes made from viscose fibre rather than polyester. Thiel said while the strengthened rand was "not ideal" for exports — Sappi sells dissolving wood pulp mainly to manufacturers in Indonesia, C...
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