Recent Articles

Fire crews responded early Friday morning, May 13, to a fire at the WestRock facility in Camillus.

Ten years after the catastrophic explosion and fire at the Verso Paper Mill in Sartell, it will soon be a day for public reminiscence.

The Paper Excellence Group, a global diversified manufacturer of pulp and specialty, printing, writing, and packaging papers, announced its subsidiary, Domtar Inc., has entered into an agreement with an affiliate of Kruger Specialty Papers Holding L.P. to sell its Kamloops pulp mill for an undisclosed amount.

Paper Excellence provided an update on skilled labor shortages in British Columbia that are impacting the company's ability to execute many of its planned shutdowns on time.

Finland-based Huhtamaki North America says it will invest $100 million to expand its facility in Hammond. The packaging manufacturer says the 250,000-square-foot addition will result in about 100 new jobs when its operational in 2023.

Iconex, the world's leading provider of highly differentiated label solutions and low-cost paper receipts, announced the acquisition of Liberty Greenleaf. Founded over three decades ago, Liberty Greenleaf is one of the premier manufacturers of point-of-sale (POS) and industrial packaging solutions, with operations in Phoenix, Arizona and Morristown, Tennessee.

UFP Industries announced that its affiliate, Deckorators, Inc., acquired Cedar Poly LLC, for $17 million. The purchase price includes incentive payments of up to $1.5 million over three years if Cedar Poly meets certain performance goals.

UPM had permanently ceased production and agreed a social plan for its employees at its Chapelle mill in Grand-Couronne, France already in June 2020.

Mondi, a global leader in sustainable packaging and paper, continues to make progress on its previously announced €125 million investment to expand and upgrade its Kuopio mill in Finland with expected start-up by the fourth quarter of 2023.

Chatham Asset Management, LLC, a private investment firm which manages funds that beneficially own approximately 6.3% of the outstanding common stock of Rayonier Advanced Materials ("RYAM" or the "Company") (NYSE: RYAM) and is a substantial bondholder of the Company, issued an open letter to RYAM shareholders reaffirming its intention to withhold its vote against two long-tenured members of the Company's Board of Directors, Thomas I. Morgan and Lisa M. Palumbo, at the Company's annual meeting of shareholders on May 16, 2022.

Stora Enso invests in ACDF Industrie SAS and becomes a 35% shareholder of the French wood processing company. The investment is in line with Stora Enso's growth strategy for mass timber building elements, enabling value-added, bespoke CLT (cross-laminated timber) solutions to its long-term French partners.

Paper Excellence announced that it is nearing completion of a significant project to winterize the pulp mill at Prince Albert Pulp Inc (PAPI). Winterizing the mill means that the interior of the mill is now heated for the first time since 2014, when the site last operated. The project will cost approximately $500,000.

Atlas Packaging, based in Barnstaple, North Devon, is a corrugated packaging provider with a strong market presence in shelf ready packaging, gift boxing and the e-commerce sector.

British paper and packaging firm Mondi Plc said on Wednesday it would sell its Russian assets, the latest company to exit the country following Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

The evaluation of options is expected to be completed by the end of 2022.

This acquisition was made for investment purposes and builds upon, and is complementary to, Interfor's recent expansion into Eastern Canada through the acquisition of EACOM Timber Corporation in February 2022.

Veritiv Corporation, a full-service provider of business-to-business products, services, and solutions, announced that it has completed the sale of its Veritiv Canada, Inc. business to Imperial Dade. Effective today, Veritiv's approximately 900 employees in Canada are now employees of Imperial Dade.

A "small fire" at Interfor's lumber mill in DeQuincy was quickly brought under control, mill officials said.

Ox Industries acquires a 150,000 square foot facility in Hanover, PA to expand its converting capacity in the Mid-Atlantic Region. The facility will house next-generation equipment and manufacturing practices and expand just in time stocking products and services.

Rayonier Advanced Materials Inc. announced that it has sold 28,684,433 common shares of GreenFirst Forest Products Inc. to a wholly-owned subsidiary of Interfor Corporation for approximately $43.3 million. The agreement contains a Purchase Price Protection clause whereby the Company is entitled to participate in further stock price appreciation under certain circumstances and for a specified period.

Ladies and gentlemen, the first class of inductees to the Paper Industry International Hall of Fame in Appleton, Wisconsin was inducted more than two decades ago in 1995, and today, close to 150 papermaking innovators and legends have been enshrined. This month, we profile the late Jaakko Pöyry, who was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1995.

The PM40 closed Friday, 13 May 2022, at 4384.

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 13 May 2022 down 1.5% from the 14 May 2021 level.

In this issue of Disconnected Comparisons, we evaluate Avery Dennison and Resolute Forest Products.

Weyerhaeuser will pay $600,000 after reaching a settlement with Columbia Riverkeeper, despite denying allegations it had broken state water quality laws.