Market News of Note

Western Forest Products Inc. says it will temporarily reduce its lumber production levels for the rest of the year.

Canfor Corporation is announcing a temporary reduction in Canadian production due to very weak market conditions. The production will be reduced through curtailments at all solid wood facilities in B.C. and Alberta.

Prices will increase 15% or more for shipments on and after the 1st of December 2022.

Interfor announced plans to reduce its lumber production output in the fourth quarter of 2022 by approximately 200 million board feet, or 17% of quarterly capacity, as current economic conditions and market uncertainty have led to reduced lumber demand.

By the end of this year, after Paper Excellence indefinitely shuts down its paper mill in Crofton, B.C. will have lost 58% of its paper production capacity and 13% of its pulp mill capacity, according to David Elstone of the Spar Tree Group.

Canfor Pulp Products Inc. is announcing a temporary curtailment of its Intercontinental Pulp Mill due to the lack of available economic fibre.

After the increase, the basic price for prime coniferous pulpwood is SEK 465 per solid cubic meter and prime birch and aspen pulpwood SEK 505.

The current geopolitical situation in Europe continues to upset the unprecedented inflationary trends further, with severe impact onto operating costs--including utilities and labour costs--through the entire supply chain.

Glatfelter Corporation, a leading global supplier of engineered materials, today announced that the Board of Directors has suspended the Company's quarterly cash dividend as part of its focused efforts to optimize the operational and financial results of the business.

The Lenzing Group, the world's leading supplier of wood-based specialty fibers for the textile and nonwovens industries, suspended its guidance for the development of earnings in the 2022 financial year in view of the drastic deterioration of the market environment in the current quarter. The further course of the 2022 financial year can only be estimated to a limited extent due to the extremely low visibility on the demand side and the high volatility of energy and raw material costs.

Mercer International Inc. has successfully entered into a new Euro 300 million revolving credit facility for its German subsidiaries with a syndicate of European banks (the "New Facility"). The New Facility has a five year term, is unsecured and accrues interest at a rate of Euribor plus a stipulated margin.

The Offer will expire at 11:59 p.m., New York City time, on October 7, 2022 unless extended.

Hygiene and health company Essity is being affected by additional cost increases. Prices for electricity and gas have risen sharply in Europe since July 2022. Costs for the company's raw materials have also risen significantly in the third quarter. Essity is therefore announcing new comprehensive price increases for all product categories and markets.

Rising energy prices have led to Finnish paper firm Metsä Tissue cutting back on production levels in recent weeks, the company said in a statement. This curtailment could affect the availability of tissue paper products, such as toilet paper, the press release noted, with further halts on the production line likely.

Sonoco-Alcore S.a.r.l. announces that due to continued inflationary pressure on the business it will raise prices by 70EUR/ton or 60 GBP/ton for the UK on all tube and core grades sold in the Company's EMEA regions. The increase is in direct response to the continued escalation of its cost base and will be effective for all shipments made on or after September 1, 2022.

Sonoco-Alcore S.a.r.l. announces that due to the continued escalation in the cost of European energy it will raise prices by €70 per tonne on all recycled paperboard grades sold in the Company's EMEA regions effective for shipments made on or after the 1st September 2022.

Yes, this is in addition to previously communicated increases.

Europe's largest paper packaging producer, Smurfit Kappa, expects a shortage of paper on the continent if gas rationing impacts production in the coming months, its chief executive said.

On June 28th, NOREXECO, the world's only international regulated market for trading pulp and paper derivatives, explained to North American buyers and sellers of pulp how they could mitigate pricing risk for market pulp using exchange traded contracts.

IT Tech Packaging, Inc., a leading manufacturer and distributor of diversified paper products in North China, announced that, its Board of Directors has approved a reverse stock split of its common stock, par value $0.001 per share (the "Common Stock") at a ratio of 1-for-10 (the "Reverse Stock Split").

The Letter stated that because the Company's common stock had been trading for a low price per share for a substantial period of time, the Company was not in compliance with Section 1003(f)(v) of the Company Guide.

Quad/Graphics, Inc., a global marketing experience company, announced that it has been added as a member of the U.S. small-cap Russell 2000 ® Index pertaining to the 2022 Russell indexes reconstitution, effective June 27, 2022.

Sonoco expects operating results to be significantly better than previously projected due to sustained customer demand particularly in its Consumer Packaging and All Other segments, as well as continued strong performance in price recovery.

Strong market conditions have continued in all UPM businesses.

Stora Enso estimates that the previous full year 2022 operational EBIT guidance will be exceeded. Hence, the Company changes its full year 2022 operational EBIT guidance to be higher than the full-year 2021 of EUR 1,528 million. The previous guidance for the full year 2022 was an operational EBIT to be approximately in line with the full year 2021.