Vietnam will treble its current paper pulp production to 600,000 tons in 2010, and then to 1 million tons in 2015 and 1.8 million tons in 2020, according to the Vietnam Pulp and Paper Association on Wednesday.

Vietnam currently has some 300 paper makers, and few pulp producers whose production meets only 37 percent of the domestic demand for pulp, the association said, noting that it has to import 130,000-150,000 tons of the material each year.

The country will need over 1.1 billion U.S. dollars to increase its pulp production to 600,000 tons in 2010, mainly by upgrading operational pulp plants, mostly small-scale ones, and building new big factories as well as material zones in the central and southern regions, including central Thanh Hoa province and southern Long An province, according to the Vietnam Paper Corporation.

With the investment, Vietnam can manufacture nearly 1.4 million tons of paper of different kinds, including tissue and printing paper for export, in 2010, and 3.6 million tons of the products in 2020, the state-owned corporation said.

Source: Xinhua