Stora Enso Further Expands Its Plantations in Guangxi

Stora Enso Further Expands Its Plantations in Guangxi

September 25, 2006

    SHANGHAI, China, Sept. 25 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- Stora
Enso today signed a contract with Beihai city in Guangxi
province, China, to secure fibre resources.  Under the
contract, in the period 2006-2008 Beihai city will provide
Stora Enso with a total of 30,813 hectares of plantation
and land through purchasing existing plantations and
establishing new plantations on forestland.

    Stora Enso currently has about 60,000 hectares of
hardwood industrial plantations and land usage rights in
southern Guangxi.  The aim is to create a sustainably
managed fibre base of 160,000 hectares of plantation land
by 2010 to support establishment of an integrated pulp and
paper mill in Guangxi in the long term. 

    "The plantations and land that Beihai city will
provide for Stora Enso form an integral part of the whole
fibre base portfolio that will be of the utmost importance
to successful forest, pulp and paper integration in
Guangxi," said Elisabet Salander Bjorklund, Senior
Executive Vice President, Stora Enso Forest Products. 
"We are very pleased with the progress we are making
with the support of our partners." 

    To ensure sustainable development of the plantations,
Stora Enso invited the United Nations Development Programme
(UNDP) to carry out an Environmental and Social Impact
Assessment (ESIA) of the Guangxi plantations in 2005 and
2006.  The assessment found that there are no major
environmental or social issues that could have an impact
Stora Enso's plantation project in Guangxi. 

    Previous press releases concerning Stora Enso's
activities in China are available at
http://www.storaenso.com/press :

    -- 20 June 2006: Stora Enso increases loan facility for
its operations
       in China
	
    -- 25 April 2006: Stora Enso has signed a joint-venture
agreement with   
       Shandong Huatai Paper

    -- 3 April 2006: Corenso expands in China

    -- 29 March 2006: Stora Enso to sign an agreement for
co-operation with    
       UNDP China
	
    -- 10 November 2005: Stora Enso strengthens its
presence in Guangxi
	
    -- 10 June 2005: Stora Enso signs loan agreement with
International  
       Financing Corporation
	
    -- 31 March 2005: UNDP to Assess Environment and Social
Impact of a 
       Forestry Investment Project in Guangxi, China
  	
    -- 28 October 2004: Stora Enso joint venture in China
	
    -- 4 February 2004: Stora Enso to modernise its fine
paper machine at  
       Suzhou, China

    About Stora Enso

    Stora Enso is an integrated paper, packaging and forest
products company producing publication and fine paper,
packaging board and wood products ¨C all areas in which the
Group is a global market leader. Stora Enso's sales totalled
EUR 13.2 billion in 2005. The Group has some 46 000
employees in more than 40 countries on five continents.
Stora Enso has an annual production capacity of 16.9
million tonnes of paper and board and 7.7 million cubic
metres of sawn wood products, including 3.3 million cubic
metres of value-added products. Stora Enso's shares are
listed in Helsinki, Stockholm and New York. 
	
    http://www.storaenso.com
    http://www.storaenso.com/investors

    For more information, please contact:

     Elisabet Salander Bjorklund
     SEVP, 
     Stora Enso Forest Products
     Tel: [phone]

     Weine Genfors
     SVP, 
     Wood Supply Plantations, 
     Stora Enso Forest Products
     Tel: [phone]

     Kari Tuomela
     President, 
     Guangxi, Stora Enso Forestry
     Tel: [phone]

SOURCE  Stora Enso China