Inspired By Life

Sappi Southern Africa is an integrated forest products company meeting the needs of domestic as well as international customers through a wide range of products. Sappi is one of the major economic contributors in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN). Part of the giant Sappi group, the pulp and paper producer has a very strong presence in KZN with more than 3,500 permanent employees and literally thousands of contractors.

It operates through three divisions:

Specialised Cellulose Division

The Sappi Specialised Cellulose division produces dissolving wood pulp, sold to converters for a wide range of consumer products, ranging from mobile phone screens, cellophane wrap, pharmaceutical, beauty and household products, but in particular for viscose and textiles used in fashion clothing.

Sappi is one of the world’s largest manufacturers. Its Specialised Cellulose division supplies customers around the world from the Sappi Saiccor Mill in Umkomaas, KZN. The increased worldwide demand for specialised cellulose necessitated a major expansion in excess of R3 billion during 2009 and has enabled the mill to increase its production to approximately 800,000 tons of Elemental Chlorine Free specialised cellulose per annum.

Almost 100% of Sappi Saiccor’s production is exported to clients in Asia, Europe and North America, which brings benefits to Sappi as a company, to South Africa’s export economy and to KZN as a base for industrial development.

Paper and Paper Packaging Division

The Paper and Paper Packaging division provides products including, paper pulp, newsprint, coated and uncoated fine papers, office and business papers, security and speciality papers, tissue wadding, containerboard (used to manufacture cardboard boxes) and packaging papers (for the cement, pet food, agriculture and FMCG industries). Leading local brands includes Typek, Triple Green, Masuga, Reviva and Enigma print papers; Sentinel security paper; Stackraft, Kraftpride and Superflute packaging papers.

The Sappi Tugela Mill in Mandeni is located near the ports of Richards Bay and Durban which makes for easy access to global markets. The Mill produces high performance semichemical fluting and Linerboard paper. This allows customers to develop lightweight boxes which retain their strength in cold storage conditions. Other paper products include recycled testliner and fluting.

Sappi Stanger Mill, established in 1976, is ideally situated along the KZN sugar cane fields as the mill uses the ready supply of bagasse (the fibrous residue of sugar cane) from the neighbouring sugar mill. This makes it the only paper mill in southern Africa to manufacture coated paper from non- wood agricultural waste.

At Sappi’s Forest Research Centre in Tweedie, we intensified our focus on understanding and breeding for pest resistance, and continued our efforts to increase yield per hectare through sustainable tree breeding.