Recent Articles

The United Steelworkers (USW) said that approximately 480 members of its local unions 971, 1471 and 1972 were locked out of their jobs by management at WestRock's Mahrt Mill on Thursday after management's persistent refusal during months of negotiations to bargain in good faith for a fair contract.

Paper Excellence announced the indefinite curtailment of its paper operations at the Catalyst Crofton facility starting in early December 2022. Paper markets in China served by the mill have significantly weakened while there have been substantial cost escalations for chemicals, energy and wood fibre used at Crofton. The intersection of these pressures has materially impacted the financial viability of the paper operation.

Effingham Assistant Fire Chief Matt Kulesza said the fire was contained to a dust collector bag cylinder. He said there were no injuries.

WestRock Company announced it will permanently close the corrugated medium manufacturing operations at its St. Paul, Minnesota, recycled paper mill. The production of coated recycled board at this location will remain in operation.

The current market environment is characterised by very high production costs, in particular energy costs, and weaker demand primarily due to destocking in the value chain.

This month marks a new milestone for paper production for Willamette Falls Paper Company (WFPC). On October 1, WFPC expanded its capacity on a third paper machine to manufacture additional coated freesheet paper.

Arauco Board of Directors approves construction of a new MDF line in Zitácuaro, Mexico. The project includes an estimated investment of $235 million and state-of-the-art operational, environmental and security technology. The commissioning of the project is estimated to be in the 2Q 2025.

Nordic Paper has entered into a binding agreement to sell its 37.6% minority shareholding in Åmotfors Energi AB to the utility infrastructure company Nevel AB.

No employees or first responders were injured.

Looking back, construction on Enviva's Lucedale plant supported approximately 400 cumulative jobs and represented an investment of more than $215 million in George County by Enviva.

The company is investing $21 million to upgrade and restart the #24 paper machine (PM24) and plans to hire 52 full-time employees to operate and maintain it. Pixelle will also fill 50 temporary positions to support construction and engineering requirements related to the restart.

Southern Champion Tray (SCT), a leading manufacturer of paperboard packaging for the bakery and food service industry, will purchase substantially all the assets of Evergreen Packaging (Evergreen) based in La Mirada, CA effective October 3, 2022. Evergreen, founded in 2001, is a bakery, deli, food service, and wholesale packaging provider with a predominant market presence in California.

Ahlstrom-Munksjö has started to operate under the business name Ahlstrom as of October 3, 2022. The company has completed the ownership reorganization of its Decor business and thus proceeded with its plan, announced in May 2022, to change its name to Ahlstrom. The divested Decor business continues as an independent company under the well-recognized Munksjö name.

Chaleur owns two modern and well-capitalized sawmill operations located in Belledune and Bathurst, New Brunswick, with a combined annual lumber production capacity of 350 million board feet.

The Mayr-Melnhof Group (MM) has successfully completed the acquisition of Essentra Packaging, which was agreed in June 2022, following the approval of all relevant competition authorities.

Sylvamo, the world's paper company, is announcing it reached an agreement and completed the sale of its Russian operations to Pulp Invest Limited Liability Company for $420 million. After foreign currency exchange rates and transaction fees, Sylvamo received approximately $390 million in cash proceeds.

UPM inaugurates today its new pulp terminal in the port of Montevideo, Uruguay. This investment of approximately USD 280 million is a fundamental part of UPM's USD 3.47 billion growth investment in Uruguay that includes a state-of-the-art pulp mill in Paso de los Toros, new eucalyptus tree nursery as well as local community investments in Paso de los Toros.

Imperial Dade, a leading distributor of foodservice packaging and janitorial supplies and printing paper, announced the acquisition of Boudreault Packaging Ltd ("Boudreault" or the "Company"). The transaction represents the 55th acquisition for Imperial Dade under the leadership of Robert and Jason Tillis, Chairman and CEO of Imperial Dade, respectively. Financial terms of the private transaction were not disclosed.

Mercer International Inc. has completed its previously-announced acquisition of all of the shares of the parent company of Holzindustrie Torgau (HIT).

Further to an announcement made in July 2022, Mondi confirms that all conditions have been satisfied and the merger of Mondi Tire Kutsan Kağıt ve Ambalaj Sanayi a.ş. and Mondi Olmuksan Kağıt ve Ambalaj Sanayi Anonim Şirketi will come into effect from 30 September 2022. Mondi currently holds 84.65% of the shares of Mondi Turkey Oluklu Mukavva Kağıt ve Ambalaj Sanayi A.Ş. .

The first class of inductees to the Paper Industry International Hall of Fame was inducted more than two decades ago in 1995, and today, more than 150 papermaking innovators and legends have been enshrined. This month, we profile the late John Hinman.

The PM40 closed Friday, 14 October 2022, at 4473.

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 14 October 2022 down 5.2% from the 15 October 2021 level.

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

The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality recently fined Georgia-Pacific's Toledo mill about $62,000 for alleged air and water quality violations, some dating back two years.