NEW ZEALAND (News release) -- The Norske Skog group has decided to invest about A$ 7 million ($5 million) to upgrade the Nature's Flame wood pellets facility in New Zealand to more than double its annual production capacity to 85,000 tonnes. The increased production capacity will be commissioned in the fourth quarter of 2019. The approval of the 85,000 tonne capacity upgrade is also a building block for potential further expansion of Norske Skog's pellet operations in New Zealand.

Nature's Flame's state of the art plant at Taupo was acquired by Norske Skog in 2015, and is well positioned in the centre of the north island where the bulk of New Zealand's forest based industry is located. Wood pellets produced by Nature's Flame are a premium heating fuel made from wood residues from nearby timber processing facilities.