Corbehem, France 08 January 2014 -- The end may be drawing near for Stora Enso's LWC mill in Corbehem. The French union FO reports the site will be shut down in June. Stora Enso countered that no decision had been made yet on the future of the mill.

French union Force Ouvrière (FO) reported that Stora Enso is planning to close its Corbehem mill in northern France in June. A spokesman for FO said the paper manufacturer had announced this move in a meeting with employee representatives on 6 January. Stora Enso says that no decision had been made on the future of the mill and added it had only announced that an information and consultation process for the 350 employees was being started. According to FO, this will begin on 21 January.

The union spokesman said that there had recently been a potential buyer for the facility, but the takeover could not be realised due to financial reasons. Stora Enso also confirmed that a creditworthy candidate to take over the mill had not been found yet, but noted the search was continuing. The company had announced its intention to sell the site back in October 2012.

Production in Corbehem is set to continue until June, the union said, adding that the order situation was currently weak. Furthermore, the paper machine at the mill is idled at the moment due to a technical problem that occurred on 5 January, he reported. Neither the union nor the company could say when the problem would be resolved or when production could resume.

According to the union spokesman, Stora Enso produced around 218,000 t of LWC paper in Corbehem in 2013. The capacity of the machine (PM 5) is 330,000 tpy.