Asia Pacific Resources International Holdings Limited, or APRIL, is a developer of fibre plantations and the owner of one of the world's largest pulp and paper mills. Its headquarters are in Singapore and its operations in Indonesia

Indonesia

Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...

 and China

China

Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

.

APRIL mainly produces bleached hardwood

Hardwood

Hardwood is wood from angiosperm trees . It may also be used for those trees themselves: these are usually broad-leaved; in temperate and boreal latitudes they are mostly deciduous, but in tropics and subtropics mostly evergreen.Hardwood contrasts with softwood...

 kraft pulp and uncoated, wood-free paper

Wood-free paper

Wood-free paper is paper created exclusively from chemical pulp rather than mechanical pulp. Chemical pulp is normally made from pulpwood, but is not considered wood as most of the lignin is removed and separated from the cellulose fibers during processing, whereas mechanical pulp retains most of...

, including its PAPERONE brand of office paper.

APRIL is part of the Indonesian Raja Garuda Mas Group and owned by Indonesian business man Sukanto Tanoto

Sukanto Tanoto

Sukanto Tanoto was said in 2008 as the richest Indonesian, according to the Forbes magazine with the total net worth of US$ 3.8 billion . Started as a supplier of equipments and materials for the state own oil firm Pertamina, Sukanto Tanoto then moved to the forest industry in 1973...

 living in Singapore

Singapore

Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...

. . Raja Garuda Mas Group or conglomerate RGE Royal Golden Eagle or Royal Golden Eagle International (RGEI), is a holding company

Holding company

A holding company is a company or firm that owns other companies' outstanding stock. It usually refers to a company which does not produce goods or services itself; rather, its purpose is to own shares of other companies. Holding companies allow the reduction of risk for the owners and can allow...

 with its activities ranging from paper, palm oil

Palm oil

Palm oil, coconut oil and palm kernel oil are edible plant oils derived from the fruits of palm trees. Palm oil is extracted from the pulp of the fruit of the oil palm Elaeis guineensis; palm kernel oil is derived from the kernel of the oil palm and coconut oil is derived from the kernel of the...

, construction, and energy business sectors, owning papermaker April

April

April is the fourth month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars, and one of four months with a length of 30 days. April was originally the second month of the Roman calendar, before January and February were added by King Numa Pompilius about 700 BC...

 and palm oil firm Asian Agri.

Riau Andalan Pulp and Paper

APRIL’s main pulp subsidiary is Riau Andalan Pulp & Paper (RAPP). RAPP operates in Riau Province, Sumatra

Sumatra

Sumatra is an island in western Indonesia, westernmost of the Sunda Islands. It is the largest island entirely in Indonesia , and the sixth largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 with a population of 50,365,538...

, Indonesia. Beginning operation in 1995, Friends of the Earth

Friends of the Earth

Friends of the Earth International is an international network of environmental organizations in 76 countries.FOEI is assisted by a small secretariat which provides support for the network and its agreed major campaigns...

 called RAPP the biggest paper pulp mill in the world, with a capacity of 2 million tonnes per year.

Criticism

APRIL has been accused by Friends of the Earth

Friends of the Earth

Friends of the Earth International is an international network of environmental organizations in 76 countries.FOEI is assisted by a small secretariat which provides support for the network and its agreed major campaigns...

 of fuelling the deforestation of Indonesia.

External links

• Asia Pacific Resources International Holdings Limited Company site.
• Paper Tiger. A documentation on APRIL as part of the 101 East program of Al Jazeera English (video, 25 mins)