While paper machines in Europe and elsewhere are being decommissioned or converted to packaging products, iconic maker Voith has received an order for three machines for China.

New southwest headquarters for Nine Dragons Paper – completed in May – are scheduled to begin production by the end of this month, with the new machines due to come online between 2022-2023 at undisclosed locations.

Three XcelLine machines will be used to produce high-strength kraftliner and white kraftliner at Nine Dragons, China’s biggest manufacturer of packaging paper.

The three paper machines have similar specifications, with a daily capacity of up to 2,400 metric tonnes each and a production speed of 1,400 metres per minute, giving each a potential maximum capacity of up to 800,000 tonnes a year.

Nine Dragons plans new mills in Jingzhou (Hubei province), Beihai (Guangxi province) and Shenyang (Liaoning province), but Voith has not said where the machines will be installed.

The southwest headquarters – with two corrugated cardboard production lines – is expected produce about 24 million m2 of corrugated cardboard and corrugated boxes a year.