At Guangxi in China about 14 000 ha of plantations were established by December 2004.

Stora Enso is concentrating its emerging markets strategy on three areas:

• South America with its low fibre costs
• China with its fast-growing market
• Russia with its extensive fibre resources

The Group wants to increase its business in these areas to diversify the asset portfolio geographically, to benefit from a more cost-competitive operating environment and to gain revenue growth in new markets.

The products in emerging markets can be divided in two categories:

• key products for local and regional consumption such as fine paper, cores and corrugated boards
• fully integrated products not only for local consumption, but also for world markets, such as newsprint, super-calendered (SC) paper and liquid packaging boards

Cost-competitiveness will be achieved by utilising low-cost wood fibre from South America and Russia, and low production costs in all of these key areas.