International Paper to build $225 million facility in Brandon
Mar 26, 2026 - WLBT
An 80-acre industrial site will be transformed as a new International Paper facility is set to come to Brandon.
The project is a $225 million investment located on East Metro Parkway near Highway 18.
“We’re very pleased to have 120, 130 jobs coming to Brandon. That’s a great thing for our community,” said Mayor Butch Lee.
The plant will make cardboard products delivered to doorsteps every day.
“This is not a paper mill where the paper’s being made. There’ll be box cars that bring in big rolls of paper and they’ll roll it out and make corrugated boxes, really, that’s going to go to box plants. So, it’s not a lot of that. And then it’ll go right back out as cardboard,” Lee said.
Officials say the facility won’t bring the same impacts people associate with traditional mills.
“And there was no, there’s no smells, there’s no odors, there’s no negative impact that we saw from an industrial operation. So that’s why we saw this a great operation for Rankin County,” said Garrett Wright, Executive Director of Rankin First Economic Development Authority.
The project is part of a string of recent economic development announcements across Rankin County.
“I think the last, it’s an exciting time for economic development in Rankin County. We’ve had a lot of project wins over the last nine months. And, just in 2026, we’re pushing $600 million in new projects. And we’ve got more on the horizon,” Wright said.
Leaders encourage residents with questions to reach out as plans move forward.
Construction is set to start in June with the hopes of being operational by late 2027.