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The PM40 closed Friday, 28 February 2020, at 2787.

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 28 February 2020 down 25.6% from the 1 March 2019 level.

In this issue of Disconnected Comparisons, we evaluate Graphic Packaging and 3M.

Reported insider trading since the last issue of PaperMoney.

Internally to a mill, maintenance is an intangible sale.

DuPont Inc. announced that Chief Executive Marc Doyle and Chief Financial Officer Jeanmarie Desmond are leaving the company, effective immediately.

Valmet will supply a Defibrator system to Guangxi Shangsi Hualin Forestry Industry in China.

Valmet will supply an evaporation line to Century Pulp and Paper's (CPP) pulp mill in Lalkuan, India.

The target of Valmet's four-stage development project is to further improve production capabilities of the Stora Enso Skoghall Mill forming section.

Graphic Packaging International announced the launch of a new line of PaperSeal™ trays, offering brands and retailers the opportunity to replace Modified Atmosphere (MAP) and Vacuum Skin Packaging (VSP) plastic trays with a new barrier-lined paperboard alternative.

Children's interest in recycling plays a big role in the degree to which families recycle their household waste, a new survey by Arla Finland and UPM finds.

The European paper and board production has decreased by 3% in 2019 (European Paper Industry countries covered by the data: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom), compared to the previous year, according to the Confederation of European Paper Industries (CEPI).

Paper Excellence Canada of Richmond says it will curtail pulp and paper production for 30 days at its Crofton operation, south of Nanaimo.

Reference is made to the stock exchange notice on 14 February 2020 where it was informed that the board of Sniace, Borregaard's partner in Spain, intended to apply for liquidation of the company.

Bast Fibre Technologies Inc. (BFTi) and Georgia-Pacific, through its consumer products business, announced that they have entered into a global licensing agreement for a suite of patents related to the application of intact plant-based bast fibres in a variety of nonwoven products and processes.

Mondi, leading global packaging and paper manufacturer, has partnered with Cartro, a leading provider of corrugated packaging in Mexico, to enter the fresh produce segment with a new avocado box that is sustainable by design.

It will allow Ilim to make sales on the European market in accordance with the EU regulations on wood without additional confirmation of the legality of the raw materials from which the products are made.

MDE intends to file suit under federal hazardous waste law to stop the discharge and require an appropriate cleanup.

Verso owns the mill, located in Luke, Maryland, and Beryl, with facilities spanning the Potomac River at the site. Paper products were manufactured there until Verso announced on April 30 the mill would close. It was subsequently shut down May 30, displacing hundreds of workers.

Klabin began production of corrugated board packaging at its new industrial unit located in Horizonte, Ceará, Brazil.

Saica Group announced it plans to establish a new, purpose-built production facility located in Livingston, West Lothian within its packaging business division, Saica Pack.

Smurfit Kappa has announced its strategy to expand its paper sack business in the Americas in a $36 million investment.

Wes Carter, President of Atlantic Corporation of Wilmington, has announced the acquisition of Coastal Corrugated, a 35-year-old family owned box company located in North Charleston, SC.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) will not oppose the proposed acquisition of Direct Paper by Spicers.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission won't oppose the proposed acquisition of Orora Fibre by Australian Paper.

Central National Gottesman Inc. (CNG), which owns a range of sales and distribution businesses in the global pulp, paper, tissue, packaging, wood products and metals industries, announced that its Lindenmeyr Munroe division has acquired the business of Wilcox Paper, an independent paper merchant based in Champlin, Minnesota.

Hygiene and health company Essity has signed an agreement to acquire 75% of the Swedish medical solutions company ABIGO Medical AB.

Graphic Packaging Holding Company, through its primary U.S. operating company, Graphic Packaging International, LLC., announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire the Consumer Packaging Group business from Greif, Inc. for approximately $85 million.

The forest owners' associations Norrskog and Norra Skogsägarna agreed to merge and form a new joint association under the group name Norra Skog.

Recently acquired by Sonoco, TEQ Thermoform Engineered Quality, a global manufacturer of thermoformed packaging, serving healthcare, medical device and consumer markets, will rename and brand all its manufacturing locations strictly as TEQ.

Welch Packaging acquires PAX Corrugated Products, based in Lebanon, Ohio from Georgia-Pacific.

Ingevity Corp. announced that D. Michael Wilson agreed to resign as CEO, president and director, effective immediately.

Former Weyerhaeuser CEO John "Jack" Creighton died Jan. 29 at the age of 87.

LSC Communications, Inc. announced that Sententia Group, LP has nominated 6 individuals to stand for election as directors at LSC's 2020 Annual Meeting of Shareholders.

McKinley Paper Company is producing paper at a mill that had been dormant for three years, a representative for the state agency referring job applicants to the mill said Wednesday.

Packaging and paper group Mondi Plc. said Tuesday that Andrew King, Group Chief Financial Officer and a director of the company, will be appointed as Group Chief Executive Officer or CEO with effect from 1 April 2020.

Paperitalo Publications Senior Editor Charles Edward "Chuck" Swann passed away Monday, Feb. 17, 2020 at the age of 87.

The liquidator of Hindustan Paper Corporation (HPC) told Delhi High Court on Tuesday that measures would be taken to revive the two paper mills in Assam and that the process would be started in the next few weeks.

The Supervisory Board of Lenzing AG has appointed two new members to the company's Management Board. Stephan Sielaff will serve as the new Chief Technology Officer effective March 1, 2020, succeeding Heiko Arnold, who left the Lenzing Group in November 2019.

Trivselhus President, Mikael Olsson, has informed the Board of Directors that he is to relinquish his position for health reasons.

Stora Enso is testing autonomous trucks

There are few corporate chiefs in Brazil more outspoken on the environment than Walter Schalka, the head of the world's largest producer of wood pulp. And he has a dire prediction for the Brazilian Amazon: Deforestation will accelerate this year.

The American Forest Foundation (AFF) announced that International Paper, one of the world's leading producers of fiber-based packaging, pulp and paper, has joined AFF and its partner, The Nature Conservancy (TNC), in supporting the newly-created Family Forest Carbon Program (FFCP) to enhance carbon sequestration in family owned forest land across the U.S.

Södra has built the world's first plant for commercial biomethanol, a sustainable fuel from forest biomass, at Södra's pulp mill in Mönsterås.

International Paper has named its first-ever chief sustainability officer as it prepares to advance its contributions to the circular economy. Sophie Beckham will lead the company's recently announced Vision 2030.

Sappi North America, Inc. was named a winner in the 2019 SEAL Business Sustainability Awards for Environmental Leadership.

Companies in the self-adhesive label industry have made a commitment to transform the industry towards a circular economy.

UPM has signed a long-term Wind Power Purchase agreement with German wind park development company wpd.

Boise Cascade announces the permanent curtailment of its I-joist production facility in Roxboro, North Carolina. The shutdown will affect approximately 29 employees.

A fire at Neenah Paper in Whiting started in a compactor.

DS Smith, the leading provider of sustainable packaging solutions, has announced the appointment of Dr Susana Aucejo as senior R&D Director to lead the company's work on plastics replacement and the development of innovative barrier solutions.

An atmosphere of panic prevailed at a store of JK Paper Mill here last evening (Feb. 22) after a massive fire broke out on its premise.

Officials say they don't yet know what sparked a fire inside the ND Paper mill in Old Town on Wednesday (Feb. 19).

GP officials told its 150 Camas employees last week that the company is investing $15 million in capital improvements to make the remaining paper towel line more competitive and the plant itself more environmentally sustainable.

Glatfelter announced Marie T. Gallagher, Senior Vice President and Controller of PepsiCo, Inc. ("PepsiCo"), has been elected to the Board of Directors.

Recently supply shortages of important raw materials arose as a result of intense transport controls in connection with the current situation surrounding the coronavirus.

While pulp manufacturing continued unabated throughout the period, paper operations were curtailed as orders could not be planned and manufactured because of the systems interruption.

Södra is making extensive investments in the sawmill at Värö, primarily in final trimming and drying, but also in other parts of the facility.

Veritiv Corporation announced the appointment of Shantella (Shan) E. Cooper to the company's board of directors. She is a member of the Compensation and Leadership Development, and Nominating and Governance committees.

Sonoco has announced organizational updates to its Global Industrial and Consumer Products divisions, led by Executive Vice President Rodger Fuller.

Three construction labourers died and five were injured at an accident around midnight Feb. 23 in the Sirpur Paper Mills (SPM) in Kagaznagar town of Kumram Bheem Asifabad district.

Members of United Steelworkers Local 449 have voted overwhelming to ratify a new five-year contract that raises wages, improves benefits and increases the number of union jobs at the Huhtamaki paper packaging mill in Waterville.