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The PM40 closed Friday, 29 September 2023, at 4976.

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

In this issue of Disconnected Comparisons, we evaluate Mercer International and International Paper.

The PM40 closed 29 September 2023 up 13.2% from the 30 September 2022 level.

Reported insider trading since the last issue of PaperMoney.

If you are in your thirties or forties, you may not have previously seen the kinds of turmoil going on in the pulp and paper industry now. Today, demand is soft and thus prices are soft, thus squeezing profits and cashflow. This has not happened in the surviving grades for a long time (we have nearly stopped producing any grades that were designed for their communicating ability, today the industry is composed largely of those grades demanded for their physical properties). We have been remarking for the last few weeks that the containerboard segment is undergoing unprecedented turmoil. Now this turmoil has hit the board rooms.

Headquartered in Düren, Germany, Heimbach is a global supplier of paper machine clothing for the production of all grades of paper and cardboard on all machine types as well as high-tech textile products used in a variety of sectors, such as the food processing, chemicals, construction materials and automotive industries.

Andritz has received an order from Nordic Paper to deliver a new wood room with chip and bark handling for its Bäckhammar mill in Sweden.

The BTG Group appoints Xin Shun Cui as the new President and CEO. This strategic move comes as Robert Crossman, the former President and CEO, took on a new role as President Products and Service North America within the Voith Paper organization.

Holmen Paper takes another stride toward innovation by upgrading its online monitoring system on PM11 to the advanced Intellinova Parallel EN system from SPM Instrument.

Mörrum is a specialty mill with two dedicated lines, one producing a wide range of premium paper pulps and the other dedicated to dissolving pulp for textiles and other applications together with the unique OnceMore® process.

Ledinek will manufacture and deliver a new planer line for exterior elements to Moelven Edanesågen AB from Sweden, part of the Norwegian-Swedish Moelven Group, which produces wood elements and systems for the construction sector. As part of a major investment at the Edane site in Sweden, a new production line for planing and sorting will also be built.

The new 723 E material handler is equipped with a 1.25 m² grapple and is responsible for cutting to length and sorting logs after they have been delivered to the log yard. Thanks to its compact dimensions, the handling machine can be maneuvered quickly and easily over the entire company premises.

Toscotec will supply a technological upgrade of Paper Prime's PM1 at their Vila Velha de Rodão mill in Portugal. Planned for mid-2024, the project aims to achieve substantial energy savings and production increase.

The delivery is scheduled for the third quarter 2024.

Graphic Packaging International has recently commissioned Voith to supply multiple stock preparation lines, integrated reject handling and the wastewater pre-treatment system for its newest, most advanced coated recycled board (CRB) mill being built in Waco, Texas.

Ahlstrom BioProtect™ is a one source, sustainable, nonwoven solution for laundry care, incorporating patent pending technology to protect laundry from color run during the wash cycle.

Greif Ranked Among 100 U.S. Companies for Outstanding Employee Sentiment and Satisfaction.

Designed for environmentally conscious consumers, GlatPure™ offers a toolbox of innovative solutions that elevate sustainability without compromising product performance.

Coca-Cola HBC Austria and Mondi partnered to create an innovative paper sleeve that tightly wraps and secures bottle bundles during transit.

Smurfit Kappa announces that it has been named in TIME's 'World's Best Companies' list and Sustainability Magazine's 'Top 100 Companies' list, two global recognitions that underscore the company's unwavering commitment to sustainability, environmental responsibility, and corporate stewardship.

Providing a direct replacement to plastic, the packaging has fit for purpose barrier properties to protect the products while supporting Veetee's goals to reduce plastic.

UPM Specialty Papers now offers a compostable solution for paper-based food stickers. UPM LabelCoatTM and UPM LabelCoatTM Prime label face papers are certified as both industrially (EN13432:2000) and home compostable (NFT51-800:2015), helping customers and brand owners meet EU's Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation proposal (PPWR) requirements.

Certified as one of the Newsweek 2023 Top 100 Most Loved Workplaces and one of the Fortune Most Admired Companies™ for 2023.

Pactiv Evergreen will soon offer its customers certified-circular polypropylene (PP) packaging products leveraging ExxonMobil's Exxtend™ technology for advanced recycling. These innovative products will meet all regulatory requirements and specifications for food contact applications.

SCA and Holmen have now conducted the feasibility study regarding a jointly owned sawmill. The study shows that the conditions to jointly create a large-scale and competitive operation are good. Work now continues to evaluate the different development options that have been identified.

Finnish-Swedish forestry firm Stora Enso, battery producer Amperex Technology Ltd (ATL) and other parties have invested $18 million in start-up CarbonScape to commercialise bio-graphite for use in batteries, they said on Tuesday.

Trace to permanently sequester carbon dioxide (CO2) underground, while Molpus continues to manage the aboveground acreage as a sustainably managed working forest.

Ahlstrom has successfully started the production of new, calendered, and embossed synthetic filter media for the first commercial orders from its Huyn-Poong plant in South Korea. The new materials offer extended filter lifetime and generate less flow restriction due to a higher available surface area. This makes these media a more sustainable alternative to competing materials.

DS Smith Zarnesti paper mill has inaugurated its new Waste Water Treatment Plant, which is an essential component of Euro 11 million worth investment plan, launched in 2021.

This investment will support ongoing plastic replacement with customers, increase capacity by over 20%, and significantly boost productivity.

International Paper celebrated the opening of its newest state-of-the-art corrugated packaging facility in Atglen, PA on Friday, September 15, 2023. The new $100 million facility is providing more than 100 manufacturing jobs to Atglen and the surrounding communities.

Klabin held the inauguration ceremony of Puma II, a project that marked the expansion of the Puma Unit, in Ortigueira, Brazil. This is the largest investment in the Company's history and the largest private investment ever made in the State of Paraná.

Metsä Tissue announces that it has chosen Goole, East Riding of Yorkshire as the site for its planned new state-of-the-art tissue paper mill in the UK. This landmark investment of several hundreds of millions of pounds will deliver the largest tissue mill in the UK and significantly reduce the quantity of tissue products that are currently imported into the UK and Ireland each year. The new mill will create 400+ jobs at the facility, as well as thousands more across the supply chain and the local economy.

Vida AB, owned 70% by Canfor Corporation, will acquire a 50 million board feet sawmill from Ingarp Träskydd for 50 million SEK (CAD$6.0 million). The sawmill has the potential for expansion to 100 million board feet and the transaction is expected to close on October 3, 2023.

International Paper announced that it has completed the sale of its 50% interest in Ilim SA, the holding company for its Ilim joint venture (JV), to its JV partners for $484MM (USD) in cash.

Mondi plc announces that it has entered into an agreement to sell its last remaining facility in Russia, Joint Stock Company Mondi Syktyvkar, together with two affiliated entities to Sezar Invest LLC for a total cash consideration of RUB 80 billion (Euro 775 million) to be paid in a series of instalments.

UFP Global Holdings Ltd., a subsidiary of UFP Industries, Inc., has acquired 80% of the equity in a newly formed company, UFP Palets y Embalajes SL, for approximately $52 million.

West Fraser Timber is shedding two of its pulp mills located in the provinces of British Columbia and Alberta for $120 million as it doubles down on its wood building products focus.

Pär Boman has declined re-election as Chairman of Essity's Board of Directors. He will remain as Chairman of the Board until March 2024.

In all, 516 workers will be without jobs when the shutdown is complete, and nearly 2,000 additional loggers will have to find buyers elsewhere. The mill is expected to be closed by year's end.

By building the new TMP line at Skogn, the Company ensures that it can produce on all machines without recycled fibres.

Curtailment extended another month for paper operations.

SCA's new facility in Obbola, outside Umeå, Sweden, has now been inaugurated. This means that the paper mill has the world's largest machine for kraftliner and with it a significantly increased capacity to produce climate-smart packaging material.

Pär Boman declines re-election as the chairman of the board for Svenska Cellulosa Aktiebolaget (SCA). Boman remains the board's chairman until the annual general meeting on March 22, 2024.

Hans Sohlström has over 30 years of experience in business leadership, including over 10 years as CEO predominantly in the forest and renewable materials industries. Most recently he led Ahlstrom Corporation, Ahlström Capital and Rettig Group.

Carbon projects

Sustainable consumer packaging leader makes progress toward a renewable future.

In response to the summons for Jackson Wijaya to appear before the Standing Committee on Natural Resources, Shane Moffatt, Head of the Nature & Food campaign at Greenpeace Canada, said...

Report details LP's resilience and sustainability across its operations and commitment to carbon-negative products.

With five products included in the new classification, LP continues to deliver resiliency, performance and sustainability in the building products industry.

The South Ostrobothnia Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment issued its statement on the Environmental impact assessment (EIA) report for the Kaskinen paperboard mill of Metsä Board, part of Metsä Group. This concludes the mill project's environmental impact assessment procedure.

As reported to the 2023 Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), RRD's absolute GHG emissions reduction target of 25% is a total reduction of over 43,000 metric tons of CO2e.

Sofidel, a leading global provider of paper products, has earned a Climate Pledge Friendly badge from Amazon. This label highlights Sofidel's unwavering commitment to sustainability and environmental responsibility.

Company partnering with Carbon Direct to deliver scientifically robust, high-quality forest carbon credits.

Billerud inaugurates new recovery boiler - SP4 - at Frövi mills in Sweden. Hard work is behind the construction of the facility that is now in place and that meets both environmental and quality requirements. But not only that, it was also carried out on time and within budget.

Company did not reveal contracting firm nor the helicopter's owner in tragedy near Prince George.

Thomasine Kamerling, Executive Vice President, Sustainability and Communications, and a member of Huhtamaki Global Executive Team has decided to leave Huhtamaki to pursue other career opportunities.

According to a news release, employees told firefighters a forklift caught fire inside the building, sparking the blaze.

Fire departments were on scene for about three hours, most of that time for the overhaul after the fire was put out.

Glatfelter Corporation announced that Mr. Lee C. Stewart has resigned from the Company's Board of Directors, effective September 25, 2023, citing reasons unrelated to the Company for his departure. The Company noted that this resignation is not related to Glatfelter's operations, financial reporting or controls, or personal conduct.

Menasha Packaging Company in Edwardsville has announced 66 layoffs by Oct. 31 because of an employee reorganization.

The development programme for Metsä Board's white kraftliner mill in Kemi, Finland, has been completed in parallel with Metsä Fibre's new bioproduct mill. Metsä Board and Metsä Fibre are part of Metsä Group. In addition to increasing the mill's capacity by 40,000 tonnes per year, the development programme will reduce the mill's energy consumption by 5% and water consumption by around 40% per tonne produced.

Brad Thorlakson, President and CEO of Tolko Industries, announces that Pino Pucci, Vice President of Sales, Marketing and Logistics will assume a newly created interim role as Tolko's Chief Operating Officer.

The company, which laid off 130 employees at its St. Paul facility about a year ago, notified the state's Department of Employment and Economic Development last month that it planned to begin layoffs in Fridley on Nov. 13.

On Tuesday, Sept. 19, the packaging company WestRock announced to its employees that its shutting down operations in Louisville.

Several fire departments responded to a blaze at the Weyerhaeuser wood production facility in Buckhannon, West Virginia on Monday, Sept. 25, but teams on site contained the fire quickly after it started.