Press ReleasesSHIKOKU COCA·COLA BOTTLING to Expand PET Bottle Filling Line- Introducing Aseptic Multi-Line for High-Mix Small-Lot Productions -

Nippon Paper Group, Inc.

SHIKOKU COCA·COLA BOTTLING Co., Ltd. (Head Office: Takamatsu-shi, Kagawa; President: Takeo Hashimoto), a Nippon Paper Group company, is pleased to announce its decision to expand the beverage filling line for PET bottles at the No. 2 Komatsu Plant of its subsidiary SHIKOKU COCA·COLA PRODUCTS Co., Ltd. (Head Office: Saijo-shi, Ehime; President: Takayuki Shiode), as well as to expand the distribution warehouse at the plant in question. Investing 4.7 billion yen, the company plans to complete the new facility by February 2011 and to start operations from March 2011.

This capital investment will enable not only aseptic filling (*Note) of tea drinks and other beverages but also high-mix small-lot production of various container sizes ranging from 280 ml to 2000 ml. Further, the new distribution warehouse will boost storage capacity and improve distribution efficiency.

In its third medium-term plan (FY2009-FY2011), the Nippon Paper Group lists as one of its goals strengthening and nurturing profit-earning businesses other than pulp and paper segment. The present capital investment decision at SHIKOKU COCA·COLA BOTTLING, which became a wholly owned subsidiary of Nippon Paper Group, Inc. last October, forms part of this effort, aiming to improve the earnings capacity of the company in the future.

• Note:Aseptic filling
  A technique to fill a sterile beverage, which has undergone flash heating in pre-sterilized containers in a sterile environment. Compared to the hot-fill technique that heats a beverage to sterilize it along with the container as a whole, aseptic filling causes less damage to ingredients and allows the beverage to keep its taste for a longer period of time (as long as it is unopened).