UPM has signed a major letter of intent with Hudong Shipyard in China. According to the agreement UPM will supply the shipyard with a total of 15,000 m3 of plywood for use in the insulation of five LNG (liquefied natural gas) carriers. The agreement is valued at some 10 million euros.

Arto Juvonen, Director of UPM's plywood business, is pleased with this first step in China. "Hudong is the first shipbuilding company to manufacture LNG carriers in China. We are very pleased that they have chosen UPM as their plywood supplier. We will now be involved in the LNG carrier business in China right from the very beginning," Juvonen says. The plywood will be delivered to China from UPM's plywood mills in Finland during the next 3-4 year.

UPM is the world's leading supplier of plywood for LNG carriers. The company began supplying plywood for LNG carriers in 1969, and to date, UPM has supplied plywood for the insulation of close to 80 tankers. The largest LNG plywood order so far came from Korea in 2002, consisting of 50,000 m3 of plywood for a total of 20 tankers.