APP in China
The famous Indonesian consortium, Sinar Mas Group, was founded by Mr. Eka Tjipta Wijaya, the prominent Chinese entrepreneur from Asia. The group's four core businesses include pulp and paper, agriculture, food, real estate development and other core industries linked to the pulp and paper industry, led by the Asia Pulp & Paper Co., Ltd. (APP). Through unwavering efforts in the last 30 years, APP is now one of the world's top ten corporations in paper making, with overall assets of over $10 thousand million, and an annual production and processing capacity of more than 10 million tons.
However, the environmental record of APP has led many western companies including Staples and Office Depot to cut all ties with the company. These decisions followed numerous environmental infringements including illegal logging in Yunnan Province, China,, and Cambodia, breaching terms of agreements with the World Wildlife Fund in 2003, and Rainforest Alliance and the Forest Stewardship Council in 2007, and the construction of an illegal road through the last remaining habitat of the critically endangered Sumatran Tiger.
The Asia Times reported on the environmental record of the company stating:
APP's business model is a tactically aggressive one: it turns huge profits by quickly stripping forests bare, exploiting age-old forests and indigenous peoples, and leaving town before the environmental consequences are felt. By the time communities and governments lodge complaints and lawsuits, APP has divested itself of local interests and assets.
More recently, an investigation into the activities of APP in the Kampar peninsula found evidence of the construction of an illegal road, on which tracks of the critically endangered Sumartran Tiger were found.
Since 1992, APP focused its investments in the Yangtze River Delta and the Pearl River Delta region, building large scale pulp and papermaking enterprises with world-class paper-making technology, including Gold East, Ningbo Zhonghua, Gold Huasheng, Gold Hong Ye and Hainan Jinhai, as well as the cultivation of fast-growing paper plantations.
At present, APP owns 17 pulp and paper companies in China and more than 20 forestry centers, as a sole corporation and holding company with assets of about RMB 56 billion, and an annual production capacity of over 5 million tons. In 2005, the 20,000 full-time employees contributed to sales in China exceeding RMB 16.8 thousand million. List: Gold East Paper (Jiangsu) Co., Ltd. Ningbo Zhonghua Paper Co., Ltd. Ningbo Asia Pulp & Paper Co., Ltd. Hainan Jinhai Pulp & Paper Industry Co., Ltd. Gold Huasheng Paper (Suzhou Industrial Park) Co., Ltd. Gold Hong Ye Paper (Suzhou Industrial Park) Co., Ltd. Yalong Paper Products (Kun Shan) Co., Ltd. Zhenjiang Dadong Pulp & Paper Co., Ltd. Gold Hai Paper Products (Kun Shan) Co., Ltd. Asia Paper (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. Ningbo Asia Paper Tube & Carton Box Co., Ltd. Ningbo Asia Paper Converting Co., Ltd. Ningbo Asia Unpolluted Paper Products Co., Ltd. Jin Feng Yuan Paper Industry (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. Jinxin (Qingyuan) Paper Industry Pte., Ltd. Jinyu (Qingyuan) Tissue Paper Co., Ltd. Guangxi Jingui Pulp & Paper Co., Ltd. Gold Daio (Suzhou Industrial Park) Hygiene Products Co., Ltd.
Read more about this topic: Eka Tjipta Widjaja
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