(UPM, Helsinki, April, 3, 2007 at 09.30) UPM today celebrates the completion of further investments at the Changshu mill site in Jiangsu, China with the official opening ceremony of Asia R&D Center and a new labelstock factory. UPM Asia R&D Center will be responsible for local fiber raw material research as well as manufacturing and technical customer service support for UPM's production units in China and Asia Pacific Region. The Chinese R&D Center will complement the knowhow of UPM's other R & D Centers in Finland, Germany and the USA. UPM Raflatac labelstock factory serves fast-growing demand for labels to meet packaging needs in China and the Asia Pacific region by supplying paper and film label materials for standard and special applications. The UPM Raflatac facility in Changshu increases UPM's labelstock offering locally and creates new opportunities to serve markets across Asia. "Research and product development as well as high-added value products such as labelstock are important components in UPM's strategy for growth in the world's most important markets", said Jussi Pesonen, President and CEO of UPM. UPM Changshu site is the location of a 800,000 tpy fine paper mill, R&D Center and labelstock factory. The site is logistically well located by the Yangtze River, about 100 kilometres from Shanghai and its 16 million inhabitants. The nearly 200 hectare mill site has a harbour, a power plant and an effluent treatment plant. For further information please contact: Mr Heikki Pikkarainen, President, UPM Raflatac, tel. + 358 40 760 5758 Mr Pauli Hänninen, Executive VP, Technology, UPM, tel. +358 40 581 4720 About UPM UPM is one of the world's leading forest products groups. The Group's sales in 2006 were EUR 10 billion, and it has about 28,000 employees. UPM's main products include printing papers, converting materials and wood products. The company has production plants in 15 countries and its main market areas are Europe and North America. UPM's shares are listed on the Helsinki and New York stock exchanges. www.upm-kymmene.com UPM is a world-leading supplier of self-adhesive label materials for a wide variety of needs in product and information labelling. In addition, the company is at the global forefront in the development and high-volume production of HF and UHF radio frequency identification (RFID) tags and inlays. UPM's Label Division has around 2,500 employees and sales of EUR 987 million in 2006. The Label Division has a global service network consisting of 11 factories on five continents and a broad network of distribution and slitting terminals and sales offices worldwide. Further information is available at www.upmraflatac.com.
UPM celebrates opening of Asia R&D Center and labelstock factory in Changshu, China
| Source: UPM-Kymmene Oyj