ITC, Marubeni ink deal for food biz
Japanese trading house Marubeni today announced a tie-up with ITC for food business including exports of Indian beans.
According to a release issued by Marubeni, the two companies will jointly consider exporting Indian-made soybean cake and maize grains for livestock feed.
The companies will also consider jointly building silos and other grain-related facilities and launching a soybean protein business, the release added.
ITC to invest Rs 1,540cr for hiking paper production
ITC is planning to invest Rs 1,540 crore in the next two years to expand production capacity for paperboards and specialty papers.
"We are creating two centres of board manufacturing in Bhadrachalam and Coimbatore units. In Bhadrachalam (Andhra Pradesh), we will make an overall investment of Rs 1,100 crore by April 2008," Pradeep Dhobale, chief executive (paperboards and specialty division) of ITC, told PTI.
The company will invest Rs 4,400 crore by October 2008 in a plant near Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu, he added.
With the expansion, total paper production capacity at the Bhadrachalam plant would go up to four lakh tonne per year by April 2008 from three lakh tonne now, he said.
He said the total elemental chlorine free (ECF) pulp production would increase to 2.2 lakh tonne annually by the last quarter of 2007 from the current one lakh tonne.
ECF pulp is a state-of-the-art fibre line which meets effluent norms set by the ministry of environment and forests and pollution control boards, and is based wholly on plantation wood introduced in 2002 by ITC.
The pulp and paper industry is one of the 17 major polluting industries identified by the central government.
ITC has got clearance from the ministry of environment and forests for expansion of the Bhadrachalam plant and is awaiting clearance for investment in the Coimbatore plant, Dhobale said.
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