Hernani, Spain 11 May 2017 -- €180m investment will increase Iberpapel's pulp capacity and diversify its product portfolio to include machine glazed papers for packaging applications.

Spain's Iberpapel group is announcing a €180m investment to be implemented at its Papelera Guipuzcoana de Zicuñaga pulp and paper mill in Hernani in the Basque country. The board of directors has agreed to commence with the "Hernani investment project" which will enable the uncoated woodfree paper company to enter the packaging paper market by the end of 2019.

€150m of the total investment were dedicated to the installation of the new machine glazed (MG) kraft paper machine and €50m would go into the modernisation of the existing pulp plant, Iberpapel explained in an announcement sent to the Spanish stock exchange supervisory authority.

According to Iberpapel, the new paper machine PM 5 will have an installed capacity of 85,000 tpy of MG paper. The project is expected to be realised within the next 24 to 30 months.