Munich, Germany, and Brussels, Belgium, 24 June 2011 -- SCA Tissue Europe and Sappi Fine Paper Europe (Sappi) announced today, that following the successful joint sourcing of pulp begun in May 2010, they will now extend this sourcing cooperation into the areas of chemicals, technical goods, and other major spend categories.

“Strengthening the sourcing cooperation beyond pulp brings both companies the leverage and benchmarking opportunities that we need to control and improve costs; this will certainly contribute to the efficiency and success of both the Sappi and SCA businesses,” said Mats Berencreutz, SCA’s chief operating officer.

 “This is an important step in the partnership with SCA. It is an opportunity for both companies to further optimize their variable costs and to counter inflationary effects,” said Berry Wiersum, Sappi Europe’s CEO.

Expansion of the sourcing cooperation will enable both companies to cement strategic supplier partnerships by embarking on specific programs to reduce cost and working capital, improve logistics and environmental performance, and to drive innovation.

Sappi Fine Paper Europe is the leading European producer of coated fine paper. Headquartered in Brussels, Belgium, Sappi Fine Paper Europe is recognized for innovation and quality. The company produces uncoated graphic papers; speciality labeling and packaging papers and boards; and digital printing papers. Sappi papers are produced in mills accredited with ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 certification and EMAS registration for all its mills in the European Union. SFPE’s mills hold chain-of-custody certification under the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) and/or the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC) schemes. Sappi Fine Paper Europe is a division of Sappi Limited (NYSE, JSE), a global company headquartered in Johannesburg, South Africa, with 16,000 employees and manufacturing operations on four continents in nine countries, sales offices in 50 countries, and customers in more than 100 countries around the world. Learn more about Sappi at www.sappi.com.

SCA is a global hygiene and paper company that develops and produces personal-care products, tissue, packaging solutions, publication papers, and solid-wood products. Sales are conducted in some 100 countries. Sales in 2010 amounted to SEK 107 billion (EUR 11.3 billion). SCA has about 45,000 employees. SCA’s sustainability work is built around four long-term sustainability targets related to carbon dioxide emissions, water treatment, respectful usage of wood raw material, and code of conduct compliance. Learn more about SCA at www.sca.com.