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The PM40 closed Friday, 1 May 2020, at 2465.

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 1 May 2020 down 32.4% from the 3 May 2019 level.

In this issue of Disconnected Comparisons, we evaluate Universal Forest Products and Kimberly-Clark.

Reported insider trading since the last issue of PaperMoney.

Many have been shut down or in a reduced operating mode for 45 days now. You have forgotten what "normal" was like. If you were a procrastinator before, you are relishing these times. The old saying is still true--"If you are not advancing, you are retreating." In other words, if you are not advancing, you are sinking.

As the leading innovator in the food packaging and processing industry, Tetra Pak ensures expansion of food availability across the world by offering products of outstanding quality and value to consumers.

For a second time, FITNIR Analyzers was selected by Södra, a leading pulp producer based in Sweden, for its online pulp liquor analyzer.

Valmet and Metsä Fibre, which is part of Metsä Group, have signed a preliminary agreement according to which Valmet will deliver key technology covering all main process islands and automation systems to Metsä Fibre's planned Kemi bioproduct mill in Finland.

Valmet will supply a fine paper making line with stock preparation, an extensive scope of automation and a recovery boiler for Sun Paper in Beihai, China.

Valmet will supply automation technology to Stora Enso's Oulu Mill in Finland. The automation orders are related to Stora Enso's paper machine (PM 7) grade conversion project delivered by Valmet.

Valmet announced on April 21, 2020 the start of co-determination negotiations for temporary lay-offs in Finland.

Voith strengthens its winder product portfolio with the introduction of the new TwinDrive double unwind, another solution for significantly boosting winding capacity.

Ahlstrom-Munksjö continues to develop its capacity in Turin to meet the demand for high performance filtration media for surgical face masks in Italy.

Ahlstrom-Munksjö has developed a face mask material as part of the Resilience project, administrated by the French Government.

International Paper is responding to the needs of communities in Italy in the face of COVID-19. The company has been donating thousands of corrugated boxes to a number of hospitals, medical units and charitable organizations such as the Civil Protection, Blue Cross, local foodbanks and others across the communities where it operates.

IT Tech Packaging, Inc. announced that it launched its production line of non-medical single-use face masks as planned, following completion of raw materials preparation, trial run of the equipment and the sample products inspection.

This product embodies Sappi's forward-looking sustainability practices to align with global goals for environmentally-friendly manufacturing.

Verso Corporation announced an inventory expansion of its inkjet roll papers to support the evolving needs of commercial printers and document centers with high-speed inkjet presses.

Pixelle Specialty Solutions' Androscoggin Mill is back in operation after a dramatic explosion but the loss of its pulp operation is going to hurt loggers and truckers.

Nearly 700,000 tons of tissue produced by U.S. mills in March, more than any other month since 2007.

West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. says it is withdrawing its production outlook for the year due to the uncertain impact of measures to cope with the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ahlstrom-Munksjö and Metsä Fibre continue the collaboration by focusing on responsible wood sourcing. As part of a resource-intensive industry Ahlstrom-Munksjö, as a significant wood pulp consumer, and Metsä Fibre, as the world's leading producer of bleached softwood pulp, have a particular responsibility to advance environmental performance and sustainability throughout their operations and supply chains.

International Paper announced a change in the format of its annual meeting of shareowners for 2020 (the "Annual Meeting") from a hybrid meeting to a virtual-only meeting via the filing of additional proxy materials with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

The Shareholders Foundation, Inc. announces that a lawsuit is pending for certain investors in NYSE: QUAD shares.

A St. Louis man faces felony charges after allegedly making false claims about someone trying to kill him and shots being fired inside a Menasha Packaging facility on Tuesday morning.

Domtar Corporation announced it has completed its purchase of the Point of Sale (POS) paper business from Appvion Operations, Inc.

Neenah Inc. is terminating a $155 million deal to acquire an Alabama composite reinforcement fabrics company in Alabama.

Nippon Paper Industries Co., Ltd. and Paper Australia Pty Ltd ("Australian Paper"), a wholly owned subsidiary of Nippon Paper Industries, complete the purchase of Orora Limited's paperboard and fibre-based packaging business in Australia/New Zealand.

San Group has purchased another mill in Port Alberni, Canada. The Surrey-based forestry group bought the former Chalwood Forest Products mill on Hector Road, and is already operating while they clean up the site.

After 58 years of operation under the Patterson family, Shoreline Container recently was sold.

Six Democratic senators have urged the U.S. Justice Department to take a hard look at what they called a "problematic" merger of the No. 2 and No. 3 largest textbook companies, Cengage and McGraw-Hill.

Domtar plans to temporarily idle the operations of its Hawesville, Kentucky, mill beginning May 5th 2020.

Graphic Packaging has revealed plans to close White Pigeon, Michigan coated recycled board (CRB) mill and PM1 containerboard machine in West Monroe, Louisiana.

On April 22, 2020, the Pixelle Specialty Solutions mill in Jay, ME restarted two of its paper machines. The A4 and A5 machines are now running 24x7 and customer service and sales personnel are taking orders from customers.

Arauco will close its medium density fiberboard (MDF) production facility in Bennettsville, South Carolina May 18.

The FUDIPO project

To mark Earth Day's 50th anniversary, Earth Day Canada and Earth Day Initiative, in collaboration with Corporate Knights, have released the 50 Top Business Moves for the Planet.

Although certain toxins discharged from furnaces and kilns at pulp mills were not deemed dangerous in a list of substances the government monitors, the D.C. Circuit ruled that they should have been considered harmful.

Greif, Inc. announced the release of its online 2019 Sustainability Report. The annual report details Greif's commitment to continuous improvement through an integrated approach to environmental and social responsibility. The report provides the company's 2025 sustainability goals and highlights progress and strategies underway to achieve those goals.

With a top score of 82/100 Metsä Board is among the highest 1% of companies assessed in the in the manufacture of corrugated paper and paperboard and containers of paper and paperboard industries.

Northern Pulp has been given a clearer idea of what the province is looking for if the company is to reopen its mill in Pictou County.

Domtar is temporarily laying off 60 employees at their mill in Rothschild for the next twelve weeks. The mill has around 400 employees, meaning just under one in seven people are affected.

North Strabane firefighters responded Tuesday morning, 22 April, to an International Paper facility for a roof-top incinerator that had caught fire.

A fire in a pit at Pratt Industries Paper Mills in Staten Island on Sunday night (April 26) prompted an "all hands" response from the FDNY, a spokesman for the department said.

An industrial fire has caused significant damage to a building on the site where San Group is building a remanufacturing plant in Port Alberni.

A total of five employees at Georgia Pacific in Madison have tested positive for COVID-19, the highly contagious and potentially lethal coronavirus ravaging the globe. The company would not confirm whether or not those who tested positive live in Morgan County or travel from outside counties to work.

As COVID-19 cases continue to rise in the Shenandoah Valley, with 426 confirmed cases in Harrisonburg by April 30, LSC Communications has confirmed more cases of the virus in their workplace.

Responding to what union officials consider the company's minimalist approach to COVID safety precautions, two locals with the Association of Western Pulp and Paper Workers have requested to bargain for extra measures with Nippon Dynawave Packaging in Longview.

No one was injured after a fire broke out early Friday, April 17, at Domtar paper mill in Rothschild.

Current global conditions and recent events impacting Paper Excellence require us to extend the curtailment of paper operations at Powell River and Crofton.

Workers at Sappi's Cloquet paper mill will return to work Thursday following a one-week layoff as the mill prepares for a three-week outage.

Short-time working was also introduced at the sawmills in Mönsterås and Hamina in Finland at the same time.

Stora Enso has appointed Lars Völkel as EVP, Head of Wood Products division and a member of the Group Leadership Team. He will start on July 1, 2020 and be based in Stockholm, Sweden.

The UPM Blandin paper mill is the latest long-standing business in northeastern Minnesota to close due to the economic toll of the coronavirus pandemic.

The WestRock paper mill has started screening its Longview mill workers at least four days of the week to "further minimize" potential coronavirus exposures.

A case of COVID-19 has been confirmed at a Weyerhaeuser lumber mill in Eastern Carolina.