<B>Two Japanese Companies Forming Web Presence</B>

Oji Paper Co., Japan's biggest paper maker, will join Nippon Paper Industries Co. and the country's two biggest paper distributors to set up an Internet- based paper and paperboard marketplace by April 2001, targeting. Japan Pulp & Paper Co., the largest distributor of paper products, and Kokusai Pulp & Paper Co. will each take 40 percent of a joint venture to be set up in July. The paper makers will take 10 percent stakes. The online market will enable them to sell products in lower prices to wholesalers, publishers and other customers, the report said.