Leading Stories

Baileyville and Skowhegan, Maine paper mills will receive state grants for railroad improvements intended to make shipping and receiving from their facilities more efficient.

The strike at a Delaware, Ohio International Paper facility is entering a second week.

A 52-year-old Green Bay, Wisconsin man was charged this week with the death of a Georgia-Pacific worker and injury to another G-P employee when he hit them with his vehicle last summer.

Graphic Packaging International Inc. will close its paper converting facility in Menasha by the end of the year, laying off 228 employees.

After being closed for more than a year, Manistique's paper mill is expected to be back up and running in June.

The Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland, at the University of Helsinki and UPM Biochemicals have started a joint research project with the purpose of investigating the applicability of UPM's new cellulose-based gel material for cancer research.

A federal judge on Tuesday blocked the planned merger of rivals Staples Inc. and Office Depot Inc. because of antitrust concerns, prompting the office-supply companies to say they will abandon the roughly $6 billion deal.

Cascades announced this week that by the end of its 2013-2015 Sustainable Development Plan, the company gave a second life to 76 percent of the residual materials generated by its plants, exceeding its target of 71 percent. Over this three-year period, a total of 1.4 million tons of residuals were recovered.

Employees say their main concern is about overtime policies that allow little choice but to work far in excess of full-time hours.

Renewable materials company Stora Enso and specialty chemicals company Rennovia Inc have announced a joint development and license agreement to cooperate on bio-based chemicals development.

No vehicle occupants or mill employees were injured in the fire and no firefighters were injured extinguishing the fire.

Smurfit Kappa boss Tony Smurfit sees the U.S. as a potential hunting ground for acquisitions. He said the company could spend between €200m and €400m on acquisitions each year without overly stretching its balance sheet.

Fire crews have contained the fire to one end of the log storage area outside the mill. Norbord continues to assess the damage and currently estimates that the mill should be able to resume production in two weeks.

Evergreen Packaging's consolidated global headquarters will create 70 jobs with an average salary of $176,283 and nearly $1 million in capital investment.

The Montreal-based pulp, paper and lumber producer said a machine at its mill in Augusta, Ga., isn't competitive because of the high U.S. dollar. About 100 jobs will be affected by the closure.

Brazilian cellulose firm Eldorado Brasil will develop a biomass project in Mato Grosso do Sul with the capacity to produce 50 MWh, local media reported on Wednesday.

Solar panels will provide approximately 45 percent of Pratt box plant's electrical usage, reducing the company's impact on the environment.

Leading pulp and paper producers from more than 30 countries converged on Vancouver this week to attend International Pulp Week, a three-day conference that is part of PwC's Global Forest Products Leadership Summit.

Motorola Solutions has announced a new managed services contract to implement a communications system for Chilean forestry company CMPC.

A Georgia-Pacific facility in Florida was locked down Tuesday after a recently fired employee made death threats against the mill before allegedly murdering three people before taking his own life.

Port Townsend Paper Corp. has cut its greenhouse gas emissions by more than half compared to emission levels a decade ago. And mill officials hope a new compressed natural gas (CNG) project, to be completed this year, will reduce emissions even further.

Wood Pellets Market was valued at USD 6,260.1 million in 2014 and is anticipated to reach USD 20,073.1 million by 2023, expanding at a CAGR of 14.1% between 2015 and 2023.

Metsä Board, part of Metsä Group, is launching an efficiency improvement programme at the Husum integrated mill in Sweden. The efficiency improvement programme concerns all operations at the mill.

International Paper said the deal includes five pulp mills and two converting facilities that produce fluff pulp, softwood pulp and specialty pulp to be used in a range of consumer goods, including diapers, tissue and textiles.

Stora Enso says it has successfully converted a fine paper machine at Varkaus Mill to produce virgin-fibre-based containerboard.