- Region: Africa
- Energy and Natural Resources
- Overseas Investment Loans
July 1, 2011
- The Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC; President & CEO: Hiroshi Watanabe)*1 signed on June 30th a loan agreement totaling up to approximately 4.8 million US dollars with Sojitz Maputo Cellulose, Limitada (SOMACEL), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sojitz Corporation Group (Sojitz) in the Republic of Mozambique.
- This loan will finance a woodchip production and sales project to be undertaken by SOMACEL in Maputo Province, Mozambique. SOMACEL plans to produce 200,000 BD tons of woodchips annually from 2014. The woodchips produced will be sold to Japan through Sojitz and be used as a raw material for paper production. The Project is the first woodchip production and sales project for Sojitz in Africa.
- Japan acquires woodchips from overseas as a raw material for producing paper, and their imports meet more than half of its domestic demand for woodchips. Meanwhile, world supply for woodchips is expected to get increasingly tight over the medium and long term, for there is growing demand for paper in line with economic growth in emerging economies. As this Project provides a new supply source of woodchips to Japan, it has a significant implication for securing a stable supply of woodchips.
- During the Fourth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD IV) held in May 2008, the Government of Japan pledged that JBIC would provide financial support totaling up to 2.5 billion US dollars to the region over a 5-year period. This loan will serve toward this pledge.
- Through project formulation that utilizes its range of financial instruments and schemes as well as its risk-assuming function, JBIC is committed to supporting the expansion of business activities in Africa, including Mozambique, and in that process securing a stable supply of resources to Japan.