Metso Paper has opened a new branch office in Shanghai, China and will open branch offices in Guangzhou and Qingdao in order to strengthen Metso's service and presence in the Chinese pulp and paper market. The branch offices, including Metso Paper's existing office in Beijing, and the Wuxi Service Technology Center will form a new company, Metso Paper (China) Co., Ltd., which was inaugurated on June 18, 2003.
Metso Paper China offers the Chinese paper industry a full range of services from the same source, including new machine lines, rebuilds, process improvements and aftersales service. The company's business areas are paper, board, and tissue making lines, chemical and mechanical pulping, and service.
Metso and its predecessor companies have delivered papermaking and pulping equipment in China since the 1950s. Today Metso Paper's equipment and processes run in well over 100 Chinese paper and pulp mills. In addition to the sales and service network, Metso Paper has a joint-venture company, Valmet-Xian, which manufactures paper machines.
In total, Metso Corporation employs more than 1,700 people in local subsidiaries, joint ventures and representative offices. It has three fully-owned manufacturing plants in the country and shares two joint-venture manufacturing plants with local partners.
Metso Corporation is a global supplier of process industry machinery and systems, as well as know-how and aftermarket and services. The corporation's core businesses are fiber and paper technology (Metso Paper), rock and mineral processing (Metso Minerals) and automation and control technology (Metso Automation). In 2002, the net sales of Metso Corporation were EUR 4.7 billion and the personnel totaled approximately 28,500. Metso Corporation is listed on the Helsinki and New York Stock Exchanges.