Recent Articles

The changes take effect starting in April.

Enviva Inc., the world's leading wood pellet producer, reported that all of its associates are safe and accounted for following a strong tornado that touched down in Amory, Mississippi, on March 24, 2023. The storm did, however, damage the company's 115,000 metric ton per year wood pellet production facility, although Enviva's larger plants and ports in the region were not impacted. Enviva's Amory facility insurance covers property damage, inclusive of business interruption and casualty.

Sonae Arauco is investing more than Euro 100 million in its Meppen industrial unit, in Germany. A new production line for wood fibre insulation materials is to be built here, which from 2025 will expand the portfolio to include flex insulation, pressure-resistant wood fibre insulation boards, and blow-in insulation.

Government of Russia approved the sale of International Paper's 50% stake in the Russian Ilim Group to the Swiss holding company Ilim SA (a joint venture that owns more than 96.37% of the shares of OAO Ilim Group), Ilim Group said in a statement.

The fate of Stoneywood paper mill remains unclear, with no new updates on potential talks of a new bidder for the site and the deadline for offers ending on February 21.

The world's largest machine for the production of kraftliner has entered service in Obbola plant in Västerbotten, Sweden. This major project has been completed ahead of schedule and within budget, significantly increasing opportunities to produce packaging materials that replace plastic.

The terminal consolidates Klabin's logistics strategy in the State of Paraná.

Clayco, a full-service, turnkey real estate, architecture, engineering, design-build and construction firm, celebrated the groundbreaking of WestRock's new 410,000-square-foot corrugated box plant in Longview, Washington. Located just outside of the Vancouver, Washington metropolitan area, this marks the first collaboration between Clayco and WestRock.

Smurfit Kappa Group plc announces that it has completed its exit from the Russian market. The Group announced its intention to exit the Russian market in an orderly manner on 1 April 2022 and subsequently entered into an agreement to sell its Russian operations to local management.

UPM plans to adapt its uncoated publication paper capacity to a long-term profitable customer demand. The capacity reductions are planned to take place in Germany and Austria.

The company told state officials the closing will begin May 14, and should complete within two weeks.

Gov. Roy Cooper urged the operators of a large western North Carolina paper mill set to shutter to find a way to keep it running, saying a closure would have a "devastating effect" on the region and its people.

An employee of International Paper is hospitalized after getting trapped inside machinery while operating it Sunday evening, according to the Rochester Police Department.

Blastomycosis is a disease associated with a fungus that grows in moist and decomposing matter, such as wood and leaves. People can get blastomycosis infection by breathing in fungal spores from the air. It does not spread from person to person or between animals and people.

Clearwater Paper Corporation announced the planned departure of Michael Murphy as senior vice president and chief financial officer. Mr. Murphy will continue to serve as the chief financial officer and assist the company in the transition through the second quarter of this year.

Twin Rivers Paper Company, a leading producer of specialty and kraft paper products, announced that it has finalized the sale of Plaster Rock Lumber Corporation, its softwood lumber mill in Plaster Rock, New Brunswick, to eastern Canadian lumber manufacturer and North American forest products leader Groupe Lebel. The sale advances Twin Rivers' strategy of investing in and growing its core business of specialty and kraft paper production.

About 150 members of Unifor Local 324-99 ​voted 88% in favor of a new 4 year collective agreement with West Fraser Timber covering ​its Barwick oriented strand board (OSB) mill near Fort Frances.

In safety training, it is often mentioned that we should clear our minds of outside distractions in order to operate in a safe manner at work. It is well documented that many accidents have been caused by people distracted by issues at home, traffic on the way to work and so forth.

I don't like you THAT much...

The PM40 closed Friday, 31 March 2023, at 4986.

Get the latest PM40 updates by listening to the weekly Nips show and the PM40 Daily Show on Pulp & Paper Radio International.

The PM40 closed 31 March 2023 up 5.1% from the 1 April 2022 level.

In this issue of Disconnected Comparisons, we evaluate Amcor and Clearwater Paper.

Ilim Group increases its deliveries to the southwestern regions of China, which has been its prioritized area. By 2025, the share of Ilim Group's board deliveries to the southwest of the People's Republic of China will increase three-fold from 5% to 16%, to another 100 thousand tons of the finished products.

Start-up is scheduled for mid of 2023.

Turkish MDF and particleboard producer Starwood Orman Urunleri Sanayi A.S. has successfully produced first fibers with its new fiber preparation system from Andritz. Production of fibers for MDF (Medium Density Fiberboard) started only five months after commencement of installation.