Japan's Oji Paper Co., Ltd. has set up a joint-venture paper mill in Nantong City of east China's Jiangsu Province with an investment of US$2.7 billion.

Of the total sum, 90 percent comes from Oji and 10 percent from the administration of Nantong economy and technology development district.

As Japan's largest investment project in China, the paper mill will cover an area of 2 million square meters and produce 1.2 million tons of paper and 700,000 tons of pulp annually.

The project will be carried out in three phases to build the world's leading paper mill while introducing eco-friendly technologies, according to Oji sources.

The first phase will be completed in 2010, with an annual production capacity of 400,000 tons of copperplate paper and 714,000 tons of pulp involving an investment of US$1.95 billion.

Oji Paper, founded in 1873, has set up paper mills in Suzhou, another city in Jiangsu, Qingdao of east China's Shandong Province, and Shanghai.

(Xinhua News Agency November 18, 2007)