Recent Articles

The former Ponderay Newsprint Co. mill in Usk has been listed for sale at $11.5 million, following the facility's Chapter 7 bankruptcy filing and closure in June.

After a fire broke out Wednesday evening, Dec. 2, at Inland Empire Paper Co., firefighters were quickly able to contain the flames.

Amcor Flexibles North America will permanently close its Akron, Ohio-area label-making plant in March, consolidating its operations with a plant in New York and eliminating 108 jobs.

Atlas Holdings announced that it has completed its acquisition of substantially all of the assets of LSC Communications, Inc., a North American leader in print and digital media solutions.

Innovative, fully digitized processes will significantly increase the efficiency of waste paper processing and at the same time reduce the specific consumption of energy and water.

Stora Enso is investing EUR 14 million to build a granulation and packing plant for lignin, allowing easier packing and handling of lignin compared to powder and wet form.

International Paper announced a plan to pursue a spin-off of the Company's Printing Papers segment into a standalone, publicly traded company ("SpinCo").

SCA is changing the name of its business area Paper to business area Containerboard as of January 1, 2021. Following the discontinuation of its publication paper operations during the first quarter, SCA's paper production will consist solely of packaging paper, a product with a stable and growing demand.

A $140 million investment will increase employment by 10 percent at Kimberly-Clark.

UPM has completed the employee consultation process started in October on its plans to improve efficiency in global functions.

Metsä Board, part of Metsä Group, has on 1 December 2020 signed an agreement to sell a 30 percent stake in its Husum pulp mill in Sweden. The buyer is the Swedish forest owners' cooperative (ekonomisk förening) Norra Skog, with whom Metsä Forest Sverige, responsible for Metsä Board's wood procurement in Sweden, has simultaneously entered into a long-term wood supply agreement.

SCA Wood Supply UK Ltd, which is engaged in the manufacture and distribution of timber and associated products for the Home Improvement and Builders Merchant sector in the United Kingdom, has been divested to BSW Timber Ltd. SCA will keep its organization for the sales of wood products to industrial customers in the UK.

Of the total amount, $26.5 million will fund real property and $43.5 will go toward equipment for the 300,000-square-foot expansion.

Essity Aktiebolag announced that Essity has made a non-binding indicative proposal to the Board of the hygiene company Asaleo Care Limited ("Asaleo") for the acquisition of additional shares in Asaleo for a consideration of AUD 1.26 per share.

Resolute Forest Products has recognized employees of the Coosa Pines Mill at Childersburg for their safe work performance of more than 250,000 safe work hours. The mill achieved this milestone on Oct. 4, 2020, following 141 continuous safe workdays.

Mondi, a leading global packaging and paper manufacturer, will open its new state-of-the-art paper bags plant in Cartagena, Colombia in January 2021.

Sonoco announced it has completed the divestiture of its Europe contract packaging business to a subsidiary of Prairie Industries Holdings, a Wisconsin-based contract packaging and contract manufacturing firm backed by The Halifax Group, a Washington, D.C.-based global investment firm, for $120 million in cash.

Willamette Falls Paper Company, Inc., a Columbia Ventures Corporation subsidiary, announces Ed Buehler will join Willamette Falls Paper Company as part of their executive leadership team.

Quad/Graphics, Inc. announced that Julie Currie has joined the Company as its new Executive Vice President & Chief Revenue Officer. Currie succeeds Renee Badura, Executive Vice President of Sales & Marketing, who is retiring from Quad after 34 years of service to the Company.

Borregaard has entered into a new employment contract with President and CEO, Per A. Sørlie (born 1957).

Sappi Limited, a global leader in dissolving wood pulp as well as graphic, packaging and speciality papers and biomaterials, announced that Marco Eikelenboom (53), currently Vice President Marketing & Sales, Graphic Papers at Sappi Europe, has been appointed as CEO of Sappi Europe as from 1 April 2021.

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, more than 140 papermaking innovators and legends have been enshrined. This month, we profile the late Richard B. Scudder, who was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1995.

The PM40 closed Friday, 11 December 2020, at 3542.

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 11 December 2020 up 8% from the 13 December 2019 level.

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