1. Art and Diseño

November / December 2014
Forest Industry News
NEW PROJECTS ANNOUNCED
Planning Phase
[Turkey] Aktül Kagit Üretim Pazarlama. Valmet will supply a new tissue production to this mill in line to
Pamukova, in the province of Sakararya, northwestern Turkey. The new Advantage DCT 200 tissue line will be
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the 2 tissue machine of this kind that Valmet has supplied to the company. The startup is scheduled for the first
quarter of 2016. The value of the order was not revealed. With a width of 5.6 m and a design speed of 2,200
m/min, the new line will add 60,000 tonnes/a of high-quality facial, handkerchief, toilet and towel grades to Aktül
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Kagit’s current production. The new line will use virgin fiber a raw material. (PPI Europe, September 4 , 2014)
[China’s] Sun Paper is planning to build a new 350,000 tonne/a dissolving pulp line at a greenfield mill in
Zoucheng city, Shandong province. The project is yet to be approved by the Chinese authorities. In 2011, the firm
rebuilt a 300,000 tonne/a bleached hardwood kraft (BHK) pulp line, enabling it to produce DP at a rate of 200,000
tonnes/a at its flagship mill in Yanzhou city, Shandong province. Although domestic DP prices have remained low
recently at around RMB 6,100/tonne ($998/tonne), the firm has developed higher margin products such as
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xylose, xylitol and related derivatives from DP. (PPI Asia, November 7 , 2014)
[China] Lee & Man Paper Manufacturing plans to erect a new 60,000 tonne/a tissue PM at its mill in China’s
southwestern metropolis of Chongqing. Its startup is scheduled for late 2015. Valmet is to supply the PM, with a
design speed of 2,000 m/min and a width of 5.6 m. Virgin wood pulp and bamboo fiber will feed the PM. Lee &
Man’s Chongqing mill currently has a combined capacity of around 1.1 million tonnes/a of recycled
containerboard, 165,000 tonnes/a of bamboo pulp and 30,000 tonnes/a of tissue. (PPI Asia, November 7th, 2014)
[Chile] With the ramp up of Montes del Plata, Arauco is now focused on Chile to convert its Valdivia mill
production into dissolving pulp (DP) and set up the MAPA brownfield project, which aims to add a 1.5 million
tonnes/a BEK line (number 3) to the Arauco facility following the suspension of Arauco plant's 280,000 tonnes/a
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eucalyptus line 1. (PPI Latin America, November 11 , 2014)
[China] Stora Enso has acquired permission from local authorities to move on with the civil engineering of an
integrated pulp and paper mill in Beihai city, Guangxi autonomous region, China. The P&P mill project was
approved by the central Chinese government in June 2013, and was granted construction permits on November
5, 2014. A 450,000 tonne/a cartonboard PM and an integrated bleached chemi-thermomechanical pulp line with
a daily capacity of 650 tonnes will be built at the greenfield mill. They are due to start early 2016. (PPI Asia,
November 14th, 2014)
[USA, MS] von Drehle said work started on a project to install by late next year a new 35,000 tons/a Metso
tissue paper machine at its deinked pulp mill in Natchez, MS. The PM delivery is slated for mid-June. The von
Drehle unit is reputed to be a NTT. Contacts claim the new PM's pulp furnish will be integrated from the
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deinked pulp line already at the mill in Natchez. (Pulp and Paper Week, November 14 , 2014)
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November / December 2014
[Finland] Valmet has been selected to supply the biomass combustion equipment for a process steam plant in
Nokia, Finland. Construction work will begin in May 2015, with operation expected to start in spring 2016. The
68MWth, €45M boiler will use locally sourced biomass, in the form of forest residues and woodchips. However
the plant will be designed to be fuel flexible, including the option of using peat and sludge from the nearby SCA
Hygiene Products paper mill. The mill will also be the main customer for the steam produced, alongside the
district heat network operated by Leppäkosken Sähkö. The biomass boiler will replace an existing coal fired
plant which currently operates at the site. (Forest Energy Monitor, November, 2014)
[Brazil] The Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES) expects pulp producers to invest Real 16 billion ($6.2
billion) in the country in 2015-2018. According to the bank, the amount includes forest and industrial projects
and is in line with the investments carried out during 2010-2013. Part of those investments are already known,
such as CMPC Guaíba's new 1.3 million tonnes/a BEK pulp line, scheduled for May 2015. In 2016, Klabin expects
to begin operations at its new 1.5 million tonnes/a BEK and softwood pulp unit in Paraná (Puma Project). CMPC
estimates a total investment of $2.1 billion (around Real 4.5 billion) in Guaíba, with Real 2.5 billion being
financed by BNDES. Meanwhile, Klabin plans a Real 5.8 billion investment in the Puma Project, of which Real
3.37 billion will be obtained from a BNDES loan. (PPI Latin America, December 9th, 2014)
[Sweden] Metsä Board will invest approximately Euro 170 million ($210 million) in a new 400,000 tonne/a
folding boxboard machine at its Husum mill in Sweden, as part of its final steps to become a purely paperboard
company. The new line is expected to start at the beginning of 2016. As part of the strategy, the firm also plans to
discontinue its 600,000 tonne/a paper production at the mill, with most of it going by the end of 2015 and the
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remainder by the end of 2017. Valmet has been selected to provide the equipment (PPI Europe, December 11
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and 18 , 2014)
[USA, AR] Domtar plans to more than double its fluff pulp capacity to almost one million tonnes/a by converting
the largest uncoated freesheet (UFS) paper machine at the company's Ashdown, AR, mill in about 18 months.
The conversion announced Dec. 10 calls for permanently shutting Ashdown's 364,000 tons/a PM 64 in second
quarter 2016 and completing the conversion by third quarter 2016 to a pulp line with up to 516,000 tonnes/a of
fluff capacity. The 516,000 tonnes/a at Ashdown would combine with Domtar's 464,000 tonnes/a of fluff pulp
capacity at its Plymouth, NC, mill. (Pulp and Paper Week, December 12th, 2014)
[Argentina] Celupaper, part of Grupo Vual, South America's leading regional pulp and tissue producer, has
signed a contract with Toscotec for the installation of a new 50 tonnes/day (18,000 tonnes/a) high quality tissue
paper machine (PM) #3 to begin operation in the second half of 2015. The deal also includes the existing PM No.
2 revamp at the company's Papelera Nicaragua in Argentina. (PPI Latin America, December 16th, 2014)
[Mozambique] The International Finance Corporation (IFC) has signed an agreement on an initial $30 million
investment in Portucel’s planned $2.3 billion integrated forestry, pulp and energy project in Mozambique. The
first phase of the project involves the development of sustainably managed eucalyptus plantations in
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Mozambique (40,000 ha of sustainable eucalyptus plantations by the end of 2016). The 2 phase of the project
will comprise commercial scale eucalyptus plantations, the rollout of agricultural partnerships and the
construction of a 1.5 million tonne/a bleached eucalyptus kraft pulp mill and a biomass power generation plant,
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according to the IFC scheduled to be completed in 2023. (PPI Europe, December 18 , 2014)
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November / December 2014
[USA, SC] Portucel has also announced that it is building a 460,000 tonne/a wood pellet mill in Greenwood
County, South Carolina. As an integrated forest, pulp, paper and energy company the establishment of a US
pellet production base is seen as a logical next step for the group. Construction of the $110M plant is expected
to start in 2015 and the mill should be operational by Q3 2016. The company has stated that it has secured fixed
price, ten year off-take contracts for 70% of the plant’s production volume. (Forest Energy Monitor, December
2014)
[Brazil] TANAC has announced it will invest $60 million (€48M) in building a 400,000 tonne/a pellet mill at its
site in the city of Rio Grande in southern Brazil. The primary function of Tanac’s site is the extraction of
vegetable tannin, a high value product used mainly in the leather and wastewater treatment industries. Tannin is
extracted from the bark of acacia trees, while the remaining wood is chipped and used for other products.
TANAC therefore produces up to 700,000 tonne/a of hardwood woodchips at the Rio Grande processing site.
These chips are currently exported to customers in the pulp, board and energy industries through an on-site
shipping terminal, but the development of the new pellet mill will give TANAC a captive market for a proportion
of its production. (Forest Energy Monitor, December 2014)
Implementation/Start-up Phase
[Tunisia] Tunisie Ouate has started up a new tissue machine, supplied by GapCon, at its Enfidha mill in
northern Tunisia. The new PM has a capacity of 70 tonnes/day, a design speed of 1,600 m/min and a reel width of
2,750 mm. The tissue paper will be made into toilet, facial and napkin paper as well as kitchen towels. Tunisie
Ouate already operates two tissue PMs at its Enfidha mill with a combined capacity of some 21,000 tonnes/a.
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(PPI Europe, November 6 , 2014)
[China]’s Zhejiang Jingxing Paper is testing a new 300,000 tonne/a recycled containerboard PM at a mill in
Jiaxing city, Zhejiang province. The Valmet unit, dubbed PM 16, will make recycled fluting grades in the basis
weight range of 70-120 g/m² at a rate of 880 tonnes per day . The firm runs several PMs with a combined
capacity of around 1 million tonnes/a of recycled containerboard and 12,000 tonnes/a of tissue at the same site.
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(PPI Asia, November 7 , 2014)
[USA, MN] One year after completing a $170 million project that turned Sappi Fine Paper North America's
Cloquet, MN, pulp mill into a viscose grade dissolving pulp (DP) operation, the firm is swinging back to kraft
pulp. Sappi decided on returning to kraft pulp production at Cloquet due to low export prices for viscose DP,
oversupply in the global market, and China's anti-dumping duties against US DP imports, according to industry
contacts. (Pulp and Paper Week, November 7th, 2014)
[Canada, QC] The new cellulose filament (CF) demonstration plant at Kruger's Trois-Rivières facility is now
producing a high quality, world-class strengthening bioproduct equivalent to that produced in the laboratory
environment. Cellulose filament underwent several years of intense research and development in
FPInnovations’ laboratories, before a five tonne/day CF plant was built within Kruger’s newsprint mill in TroisRivières, Québec. The plant is expected to provide enough CF tonnage to permit commercialization and to enable
new application development. Cellulose filament is expected to expand its role as a strengthening biomaterial
beyond traditional pulp and paper markets to applications across many industrial sectors.
(Pulp and Paper Canada, November 12th, 2014)
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November / December 2014
[China] Jiangmen Xinghui Paper has started up a new 300,000 tonne/a cartonboard PM at a greenfield mill in
Jiangmen city,Guangdong province. Its output has been launched on the regional market in Guangdong. The unit,
dubbed PM 1, has a trim width of 4.36 m and a design speed of 650 m/min. It can make grayback coated duplex
board in the basis weight range of 230-500 g/m². (PPI Asia, November 14th, 2014)
[Mexico] Packaging paper and corrugated board producer Grupak started up in September a 220,000 tonnes/a
converted recycled containerboard machine at the company's Hidalgo plant in eastern Mexico. The new PM
output includes recycled liner and medium in a basis weight range of 70-200 g/m2. (PPI Latin America,
November 18th, 2014)
[Japan] Tokushu Tokai Paper has kicked off trial runs on a new tissue paper machine at its Shimada mill in
Shimada city, Shizuoka prefecture, Japan. The 2.2 m wide unit, PM 1, has a daily production rate of 50 tonnes, or
18,000 tonnes/a. It will produce high-quality grades for converting into value-added products, such as hand
towels and coffee filter paper. The firm plans to erect another, similar machine, PM 2, at the plant, with startup
scheduled for December 2015. (PPI Asia, November 21st, 2014)
[USA, OR] Cascades started up a converted uncoated freesheet (UFS) paper machine for making tissue paper in
late October. The machine No. 2 is a "wet crepe tissue machine which will produce 55,000 tons/a of napkin and
toweling grades for the Away-From-Home market," the official said. Boise Paper used to make UFS paper on
the machine. The Cascades conversion is the 2nd one in two years in the USA where tissue producers converted a
former UFS machine. ST Paper last year started making tissue on a converted UFS machine at International
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Paper's Franklin, VA, mill. (Pulp and Paper Week, November 21 , 2014)
[China] Shandong Chenming Paper Holdings is erecting a second-hand 190,000 tonne/a printing and writing
PM at its mill in Zhanjiang city, Guangdong province, China. Startup is scheduled for the first half of 2015. The
PM was relocated from Yanbian Shixian Bailu Papermaking, which is based in Yanbian autonomous prefecture,
Jilin province. It used to make newsprint at a rate of 180,000 tonnes/a. (PPI Asia, November 28th, 2014)
[Vietnam]’s An Hoa Paper has started up a coated fine paper machine at its mill in Son Duong district, Tuyen
Quang province. The 4.4 m wide PM, which has a design speed of 1,100 m/min, has a daily production rate of 511
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tonnes or 180,000 tonnes/yr. (PPI Asia, December 5 , 2014)
[Russia] Turkish tissue producer Hayat Kimya has started commissioning a 70,000 tonne/a tissue machine at
its new mill in Yelabuga in Tatarstan, Russia. The machine, supplied by Valmet, has a width of 5.6 m and a design
speed of 2,200 m/minute. It will produce facial, napkin, toilet and towel tissue from virgin fiber. (PPI Europe,
December 11th, 2014)
[China]’s C&S Paper has started up a new 60,000 tonne/a tissue PM at a mill in Luoding city, Guangdong
province, raising its total tissue capacity to 450,000 tonnes/a. The PM was supplied by Andritz, and has a width of
5.6 m and a design speed of 1,900 m/min. In May, the same mill saw the startup of an identical 60,000 tonne/a
tissue machine. There are two more PMs still to come online at the firm. (PPI Asia, December 12th, 2014)
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November / December 2014
MERGERS, ACQUISITIONS & PLANT CLOSURES
[Germany] Sonoco has completed its acquisition of Germany’s Weidenhammer Packaging Group (WPG), a
producer of composite cans, composite drums and rigid plastic containers. The $357 million deal is aimed at
expanding Sonoco’s consumer-related packaging and services offering and strengthening its presence in
Europe. According to Sonoco, this will increase Sonoco’s combined global consumer-related packaging and
services business to approximately $2.8 billion in annual sales or approximately 53% of the
company’s combined revenue of $5.4 billion. In addition, the combination is expected to increase Sonoco’s net
sales in Europe to [about] 21% of total sales. WPG has about 1,100 employees and operates 13 production sites,
including five in Germany, and individual plants in Belgium, France, Greece, the Netherlands, the UK, the US,
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Chile and Russia (PPI Europe, November 6 , 2014)
[Finland] UPM is introducing a new profit improvement target with an annualised impact of EUR 150 million by
the end of 2015. The target includes savings in variable and fixed costs in all UPM businesses as well as planned
capacity closures in the European paper business, which continues to suffer from overcapacity. UPM is planning
to permanently reduce its publication paper capacity in Europe by further 800,000 tonnes approximately. UPM
plans a permanent closure of: newsprint machine 3 at UPM Chapelle in France, newsprint machine 1 at UPM
Shotton in the UK, SC paper machine Jämsänkoski 5 at UPM Jämsä River Mills in Finland, and coated
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mechanical paper machine 2 at UPM Kaukas in Finland. (RISI, November 13 , 2014)
[Russian] investment firm Basic Element, has declared bankruptcy at its Yeniseyskiy pulp and paper mill
following a hearing at the Krasnoyarsk region Arbitration Court. The mill located in Krasnoyarsk, Siberia, has
incurred financial losses for more than a year now. The mill houses five paper machines which can produce
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some 230,000 tonnes/a of containerboard, newsprint and cartonboard.(PPI Europe, November 13 , 2014)
[US, ME] Expera Specialty Solutions signed an agreement to purchase the bankrupt Old Town Fuel & Fiber'
NBHK pulp mill in Maine. The acquisition is seen as a way for Expera, North America's largest specialty paper
producer, to further integrate its own pulp to paper operations. The firm runs four specialty and technical paper
mills in Wisconsin in Rhinelander, Mosinee, Kaukauna, and De Pere, that make various bleached and
unbleached papers, and release liner and other specialties for industrial and food service customers. Expera
announced on Nov. 11 that it planned to acquire the 199,000 tonnes/a Old Town market pulp mill, with a deal
potentially closing in December and a restart of the pulp mill during first quarter 2015. (Pulp and Paper Week,
November 14th, 2014)
[US, ME/Canada, NB] Twin Rivers Paper Co. has purchased certain envelope assets from Cascades’ East
Angus operations that made recycled-content kraft paper at its 109,000 tons/a in Quebec that shut down
operations in October and will produce Enviro Kraft Envelope paper at its Madawaska, ME, mill. It will be the first
recycled-content grade made at Madawaska, whose machines have run fully on virgin pulp. (Pulp and Paper
Canada, November 19th, 2014)
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November / December 2014
[Canada] Resolute Forest Products has announced the permanent closure of its newsprint mill in Iroquois
Falls, Ont., and the permanent closure of two paper machines at mills in Quebec. The move will remove 465,000
tonnes of newsprint capacity from the market, and result in job losses for about 300 employees. The Iroquois
Falls mill employs approximately 180 people and has an annual production capacity of 210,000 tonnes of
newsprint. It will permanently close on December 22, 2014, with closure-related activities running into January
2015. The currently idled paper machine #1 at Baie-Comeau was permanently closed as of Dec. 5, and paper
machine #4 in Clermont will be permanently closed on or about January 30, 2015. The closures at Baie-Comeau
and Clermont will result in the loss of approximately 120 positions and the permanent removal of approximately
255,000 metric tons of newsprint capacity (Pulp and Paper Canada, December 8th, 2014)
[China] Henan Yinge Industrial Investment has stopped production at a mill with a combined capacity of
220,000 tonnes/a of uncoated printing and writing paper in Luohe city, Henan province. It currently operates
several other sites in Henan and Sichuan provinces with a combined capacity of around 700,000 tonnes/a of
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various P&P grades. (PPI Asia, December 12 , 2014)
[USA, ME] Verso confirmed this week that Canada-based metal recycler American Iron and Metal (AIM) agreed
to buy its shuttered coated mechanical paper mill and power plant at Bucksport, ME, for about $60 million.
Verso stopped making paper at Bucksport on Dec. 4 and began the permanent shutdown process for the 355,000
tons/a mill. It plans to end employment for the mill's more than 500 workers at the end of the month. (Pulp and
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Paper Week, December 12 , 2014)
PRODUCT PRICE SUMMARY (US Dollars)
Product
NBSK Pulp (N.E.)
BEKP (N.E.)
2
Newsprint 48.8 g/m
(US East)
Uncoated. Freesheet
50 lb Offset Rolls(US)
LWC 34 lb (US)
Linerboard 42 lb
(US East)
Lumber #2&Btr.
(W-SPF 2x4, FOB)
OSB 7/16” (N-C US)
Canadian Dollar
E = estimated
Units
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015E
tonne
tonne
800
707
839
782
667
564
939
849
956
802
813
757
866
793
928
744
892
753
Current
Price
935
745
tonne
585
695
560
607
640
640
608
604
601
595
sh. ton
832
912
863
912
937
910
858
897
912
905
sh. ton
923
1,085
935
909
1,015
994
998
923
970
915
sh. ton
517
569
545
625
640
657
728
740
740
740
Mbf
250
220
181
254
255
299
362
349
362
338
Msf
160
171
163
219
187
270
267
217
230
215
US$
0.93
0.942
0.88
0.971
1.012
1.001
0.973
0.906
0.853
0.86
Sources: RISI Monthly Commentaries (Dec 2014), Wood Markets Monthly (Dec 2014), BMO Capital Markets
Economic Forecast (Dec 31, 2014) and Oanda historical rates (Oanda.com, Dec 31, 2014).
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