In the announcement of the unaudited results for the six months ended June 2014, Sateri Holdings Limited reported increased revenue despite declining product prices, as operations were ramped-up at the new viscose staple fiber (VSF) plant in Fujian, China, which commenced production in December 2013. With three of the four production lines of the new Fujian VSF plant now in operation, Sateri is now focused on two products – VSF and specialty-grade dissolving wood pulp (DWP), thereby reducing exposure to market price fluctuations in the rayon-grade DWP market.

Sateri is an international specialty cellulose producer, responsible for the manufacture of VSF and highly pure varieties of DWP. Companies use these as raw materials to make a wide range of common consumer products, from textile cloth to pharmaceutical products. The materials also find a use in high-level industrial production, such as the manufacture of tire cords.

Under the direction of RGE Group founder and CEO Sukanto Tanoto, Sateri’s upstream operation, based in Brazil, encompasses 150,000 freehold hectares of land with a renewable plantation of eucalyptus trees. The Brazilian plant, which produces DWP, sustains close to 500,000 metric tons of yearly production capacity.

Sateri’s China-based downstream facility utilizes DWP to manufacture the VSF necessary to meet the increasing demand of China’s emerging consumer economy. The company’s viscose staple mill in Jiangxi supports a yearly design capacity in excess of 150,000 metric tons. The additional annual design capacity of 200,000 metric tons of the company’s new plant at Fujian will not only boost the integration of its VSF business and its rayon-grade DWP business, it will also enable Sateri to increase its penetration into the specialty VSF markets such as the non-woven sector.

Mr. TEY Wei Lin, CEO of Sateri, concluded: "Looking ahead, we are in a good position to make further progress in the specialty pulp segment, as we continue to improve our product quality according to stringent customer specifications. As for VSF, with the ramped-up production at our new Fujian VSF plant, we are now integrated from wood to pulp to VSF, and Sateri is now the third-largest player in China and fifth globally in terms of VSF capacity."

Download 2014 Interim Report here.