Leading Stories

Smurfit Kappa has launched a new 'Design for Help' portfolio of products to help alleviate some of the current challenges being experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mondi will not pay a final dividend for 2019, it said on Thursday, as it cuts costs and capital spending after seeing a deterioration in its order book in Europe and South Africa from the end of March.

Freeman Lumber announced Thursday that the Greenfield-based outfit could no longer afford to operate due to a lack of markets for wood chips following the closure of the Northern Pulp mill earlier this year.

Several crews responded to a call for a fire at the Kimberly-Clark Corp. plant located in Beech Island on Thursday morning.

The former site of the White Pigeon Paper Company -- now owned and operated by Graphic Packaging International -- has been added to the state's list of PFAS contamination sites.

The company said it identified other workers who may have come in close contact with the employee. They are now in self-quarantine.

A worker notified management that their tests results came back positive for COVID-19, according to Tom Srother, Senior Communications Manager at Georgia-Pacific. This worker has been out of work since March 30.

Clearwater Paper confirmed the first positive case of COVID-19 among the workforce at its Lewiston mill Monday.

IT Tech Packaging, Inc. announced that its tissue paper production lines are now running at full production capacity to fulfill orders. The average selling price of tissue paper increased 8% from USD $836 per tonne to USD $903 per tonne in the first quarter, resulting from growing demand because of Covid-19.

Mercer International Inc. reports that its joint venture Cariboo pulp mill in British Columbia, Canada will be taking approximately 4 weeks of downtime starting on or about April 20, 2020, resulting in an approximate reduction of NBSK production of 30,000 tonnes of which Mercer's share is 15,000 tonnes.

The company is planning reductions in plywood production of 25-35% and in EWP volumes of 20-40% depending on location, in comparison to 1Q levels. The reductions in production are expected to be implemented through a combination of periodic curtailments and reductions in operating schedules at specific facilities.

Quad/Graphics Inc. said it has temporarily furloughed employees throughout the company and suspended operations at a number of its plants.

West Fraser says it will further reduce its SPF production by 30M to 40M board feet of production per week which represents between 45 and 60% of SPF production.

As part of the #RollingItForward initiative, Mercedes-Benz Canada and its dealer network are working with Kruger Products to deliver the essentials to front-line healthcare professionals--allowing them to focus on their critical work helping people all over the country.

Paperitalo Publications is doing a follow-up survey regarding the coronavirus and how it's affecting the pulp and paper industry.

Company to idle Kingsport, Tennessee mill and Ashdown, Arkansas A62 paper machine for three months.

Kokusai Pulp & Paper ("KPP") and SEQUANA SA have entered into an agreement, according to which KPP agreed to acquire 53,395,148 ordinary shares of Antalis SA held by Sequana, representing approximately 75.2% of Antalis' share capital and 82.5% of voting rights.

The disruption of the first straw pulp mill of its kind in North America comes just five months after the company began production.

It was unusual for Christopher Hollins to fall ill. While he caught an occasional cold, he rarely missed a shift at the Georgia-Pacific paper mill in Zachary, where he worked for more than 30 years.

Mondi produces elastic, three-layer laminate straps using nonwoven material for one billion face masks.

Neenah, Inc. announced that it had not closed on its agreement to acquire Vectorply Corporation on April 1 as originally contemplated. Neenah had agreed to acquire Vectorply from MSouth Equity Partners for $155 million in cash.

The COVID-19 pandemic is impacting global demand for forest products. In response, effective April 6, 2020, Conifex Timber Inc. will temporarily curtail operations at its Mackenzie, British Columbia, Canada sawmill for two weeks.

In this project, Klabin S.A. is carrying out an expansion of its existing facility in Paraná State in southern Brazil. By further promoting the use of biofuel it is expected to control the GHG emission. This project will contribute to the development of Brazil's sustainable forest industry and to strengthening the supply chains.

Södra Wood is implementing temporary partial furloughs at its production facilities in Mönsterås and Orrefors due to a reduction in demand in the UK and the Republic of Ireland during the ongoing pandemic. Södra Wood Ltd in the UK and the production facility in Hamina, Finland, may also be affected by the decision.

A Procter & Gamble Co. manufacturing plant that makes Charmin toilet paper and Bounty paper towels suffered fire damage Monday, but workers are getting equipment affected by the blaze back into service.