Sateri (RGE Group)

Sateri is officially incorporated as Pacific Viscose Limited, part of the Royal Golden Eagle (RGE) Group (also owns the Jiangsu Xiangsheng mill)

Shanghai, China

Next
Gen
19
2
KR
shim
Known risk confirmed in audit

1. Completion of CanopyStyle Third Party Verification Audits

1.1 Undertaking Annual Audits

1.2 Audits Public and Results Acted On

1.3 Audit Risk Results

2. Contribution to Conservation Legacies

2.1 Public support web/panels

2.2 International conservation

2.3 Influences Decision Makers

2.4 Legislated Protection

2.5 Extra Respon­sibilities

3. Innovation via New Alternative Fibers

3.1 Partnerships

3.2 R&D Investments

3.3 Scaling to Commercial Products

3.4 Targets & Timelines

3.5 10% of pulp is NG

3.6 Contributing to Collective Goal

3.7 Aggressively Increasing Commercial Scale

4. Adoption of Robust Forest Sourcing Policy

4.1 Policy Adoption

4.2 Policy Meets All CanopyStyle Criteria

5. Traceability, Transparency, and Sustainable Sourcing

5.1 Track & Trace System In-Place

5.2 Public Sharing of Supplier List

5.3 Conducts Due Diligence

6. Leaders in Supply Chain Shifts

6.1 Proactive outreach/ Inspires Leadership

6.2 FSC Preference

6.3 Forest Mapper Support

6.4 Using the Dissolving Pulp Mill Classification

7. Associated with High Risk of Sourcing from Ancient & Endangered Forests and other Controversial Sources

7.1 Risk is Known

Total:

Buttons 19

Chemical Management

The Producer Is Addressing the Pollution Originated by the Chemical Substances Used During the MMCF Production Process. It Has Joined a Credible Initiative That Advances Solutions on Chemical Management.

The producer is implementing, for all of its sites, pollution control technologies to limit their impact, developing an approach for the recovery of substances used or generated during the production of MMCF.

N/A

In the future, criteria will be built out by ZDHC to apply V2.0 of ZDHC MMCF Guidelines, including air emissions and responsible fibre production.

N/A

Total:

2 Points

Risk of sourcing from Ancient and Endangered Forests

Sateri is part of the Royal Golden Eagle Group and, as such, is affiliated with the following companies:  

  • APRIL (Asia Pacific Resources International Ltd), the Indonesian pulp producer; and plantation company, a primary supplier of fibre to Sateri. 
  • Asia Pacific Rayon (APR), an MMCF producer. 
  • Bracell, a Brazil-based dissolving pulp supplier. 

There is also an indirect association with Toba Pulp Lestari (TPL) mill in Indonesia, held by the same beneficial owner, the Tanoto family.  

Sateri has been making sincere efforts to improve its Hot Button Ranking where possible. Progress is limited by its reliance on fibre from APRIL and other RGE affiliates. APRIL’s forest policy (2015) includes commitments to zero deforestation and no further conversion, and the company has embarked on projects to track GHG emissions from plantations on peat, invested in Next Generation R&D and more. 

However, APRIL (and TPL) and supply partners have a fairly recent legacy of significant deforestation and conversion of natural forests and peatlands to monoculture plantations that has yet to be sufficiently remedied. APRIL continues to operate on carbon-rich, drained tropical peatlands, and there has been a history of local disputes with both pulp mills, their operations, and their wood suppliers. 

Since 2020, Canopy has been in intermittent dialogue with RGE and APRIL in an effort to agree on solutions to the challenges facing RGE’s viscose producers including Sateri. Progress has been made in some areas, but the core risks affecting Sateri’s Hot Button Ranking have yet to be effectively addressed. We hope that further progress is possible. 

Brands should continue to liaise with Canopy to monitor the timely implementation of actions Sateri and its core suppliers need to take in order to achieve important key milestones on the ground. Canopy recommends a considered approach by the marketplace at this stage. 

Key Improvements Required

As part of the RGE family of companies, Sateri is uniquely positioned to advocate internally for substantive change in the practices of its primary suppliers to address identified risks, including encouraging APRIL to:  

  • Address the legacy of forest conversion and associated environmental impacts by increasing the restoration and protection of high-carbon peatlands within its concessions. 
  • Prioritize landscape-level planning and connectivity, identifying areas with the highest potential for restoration, working in collaboration with independent scientists and local communities/rights-holders. 
  • Set targets and timelines to retire and restore high-carbon peatlands within concession boundaries. 
  • Scale up Next Generation technologies, innovation and production, while reducing reliance on forest-derived fibre. 
  • Implement concrete and effective measures to remediate or provide restitution for adverse social impacts, including resolving conflict with traditional and local communities. 
  • Continue to build the company’s awareness of the status of Ancient and Endangered Forests in the landscapes from which they source their fibre, and provide support for efforts to protect them (either by donation or in-kind).  

Sateri can also: 

  • Encourage transparency regarding APRIL’s planned production expansion, in particular through the open sharing of detailed information on long-term fibre sourcing. 
  • Ensure all suppliers and their supply partners are not associated with the conversion of natural forests to plantations. 
  • Accelerate the use of Next Generation fibre solutions in order to meet or exceed the target of all production being 50% by 2030. 

Areas where the company is showing leadership

Sateri has increased their button count from 16 in 2021 to 19 this year, earning a green-yellow with red (known risk) shirt.  

Sourcing: 

  • Core supplier, APRIL, continues to engage in dialogue with Canopy regarding risks associated with its operations. 

Conservation: 

  • Engaged with RGE and key supplier APRIL to support conservation initiatives in the critically important Leuser Ecosystem, including having signed a collaborative MoU with a local conservation organization in Aceh Province, undertaken mapping and analysis, and communicated with the provincial government. 
  • Wrote to a key supplier to advocate for a solutions pathway regarding Ancient and Endangered Forests.  
  • Supported the call for protecting 30% of the world’s Ancient and Endangered Forests by 2030, in a letter from MMCF producers to countries that are party to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). 

Next Generation Solutions: 

  • In 2022, parent company RGE launched a five-year, $6-million research centre project to develop new technologies for textile recycling, in partnership with Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.  
  • Sateri has a Next Generation product line that is commercially available (130 tonnes per annum) and contains 20% recycled fibre. 

Number of viscose, lyocell and dissolving pulp mills + location and production volumes

In 2015, Sateri Holdings Ltd separated into two distinct corporate entities, “Bracell Ltd” and “Pacific Viscose Ltd.” Bracell operates plantations in Brazil and the Bahia Speciality Cellulose dissolving pulp mill.  

Annual production capacity is approximately 1.6 million tonnes of viscose staple fibre and 18,144 tonnes of lyocell. Sateri plans to increase lyocell fibre production in China to 453,592 tonnes by 2025.  

Sateri produces a Next Generation product, FINEX, at volumes of approximately 130 tonnes per annum. The product is 20% recycled fibre (sourced from the hospitality sector) mixed with 80% FSC-certified tree fibre.  

Sateri currently owns six viscose mills and one lyocell facility and holds a controlling interest in the Linz (Nanjing) spinning mill (50K spindle capacity).   

  • Sateri Lyocell Production Line. Rizhao, Shandong Province, China. Production capacity 20,000 tonnes of lyocell
  • Sateri (Jiangxi) Chemical Fibre Co. Ltd. in Jiujiang, Jiangxi Province, China. Production capacity 226,796 tonnes of viscose staple fibre
  • Sateri (Fujian) Fibre Co. Ltd. Putian, Fujian Province, China.  Production capacity 272,155 tonnes of viscose staple fibre
  • Sateri (Jiujiang) Fibre Co. Ltd. Jiujiang, Jiangxi Province, China. Production capacity 317,515 tonnes of viscose staple fibre (17 tonnes non-wovens)
  • Sateri (Jiangsu) Fibre Co. Ltd. Suqian, Jiangsu Province, China. Production capacity 290,299 tonnes of viscose staple fibre
  • Sateri (China) Fibre Co. Ltd. Jiujiang, Jiangxi Province, China.  Production capacity 294,835 tonnes viscose staple fibre
  • Sateri Yancheng Fibre Co. Ltd. (formerly Funing Aoyang Technology Ltd, acquisition finalized). Yancheng, Jiangsu Province, China Production capacity 213,188 tonnes viscose staple fibre 
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