Finnish companies forge ahead with new mills
Seven Finnish companies have publicized expansion plans to be realized in the near future. Financing looks likely to come from a $37,000,000 loan that Finland has received from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Tampella has plans for a new fluting mill at Heinola while Metsäliiton Selluloosa is to build a sulfate pulp mill at the Aänekoski Mills. Other projects include pulp expansions at Kemi and at A Ahlström's Varkaus mill. Oulu Osakeyhtiö has also decided to expand kraft pulp at its Nuottasaari mills, while Kajaani will build a bleaching plant. United Paper Mills' Simpele mill, also started up a new 35,000 ton/yr groundwood mill at the beginning of this year.

Big step forward for British group
A new high speed paper machine at the Reed Paper Group's Aylesford mills in England is now making newspaper and other printing papers. The new 214 in trim number 13 machine from Walmsley has a design speed of 2,000 ft/min.

Cuban revolution holds up work
Reliable reports from travelers in Cuba are that work has been held up on two new mills because of activities of the rebel guerilla forces opposing the Batista government. In one case, rebels have stolen machinery and harassed trucks delivering goods, because the mill is partially government-funded.

More mills for Sweden
Wargons AB is planning to build a new paper mill at Vargon in west Sweden to process its entire pulp output. The estimated cost is $6,000,000 (Kr 30,000,000). Svenska Cellulosa will also build a plant at Munksund, Sweden, for the annual production of 100,000 tons kraft linerboard. Total cost will be Kr 115,000,000 ($22,500,000). The third site will be on Lake Malar, west of Stockholm where a new sulfate mill is to be built by Billeruds. The plant will have an annual capacity of 70,000-90,000 tons of kraft pulp.

Italians lead the pack
The world's most modern high-grade semi-chemical pulp mill has started full-scale operation at Cremona, Italy. Soc. Uti-le is in continuous production turning out 30 daily tons of NSSC pulp.

Soviets aim high with new mill plans
Twenty five new mills is the aim of the current Seven-Year Plan of the Soviet Union. Cellulose production will reach 4,800,000 tons annually by 1965, while paper output will rise to 3,500,000 tons.

Japanese only need own news
A surprising trend in world newsprint is that Japan has become self-sufficient. Many other nations are becoming independent of outside sources. Continental Europe now produces 60% of its requirements.

Europe's giant machine is German
The biggest paper machine in Common Market is Feldmühle Papier-und Zellstoffwerke's new 3.90 m wide combination cylinder-Fourdrinier machine. The Dörries machine is installed at Feldmühle's Arnsberg mill in West Germany.

Philippines increases production
The Philippines has more home-produced paper since Globe Paper Mills started a new machine in a suburb of Manila. The Escher Wyss unit has a speed of 500 fpm with a trim of 104 in. in the production of high-grade printing and wrapping papers.

Stora sells new pulp formula
Bleached sulfite pulp from Swedish pine was recently placed on the market. Based on a process pioneered by Stora Kopparberg, the pulp is known as Stora 59 and is said to be suitable for a wide range of papermaking uses. The method is being tested by another large firm, Mo och Domsjo.

Clupak arrives on European shores
Europe's first glimpse of Clupak will result from the signing of a license agreement between Clupak of New York and Dynas of Sweden. The stretchable paper will be manufactured by Dynas on a new 250-in kraft machine at its Vaja mill.

New raw material pilot plant to start up soon
A pilot pulping plant for bagasse is being built at Crown Z's Central Research dept. Camas, Wash. USA. Pulp-making activities are expected to start around Feb 1. This new unit will operate as part of an expanded research and testing program being carried out under the joint sponsorship of CZ and Hawaiian Sugar Planters association.

Three new mills for Korea
The Daihan plant is being readied for operation and a new bond paper mill at Taegu reports good results on test runs. Specialty Paper is also constructing a bond mill 10 miles south of Seoul that will have a daily output of 25 tons.

Canada-Red China agreement off
Although it seemed a few months ago that some Canadian pulp would be sold to Red China, all deals are off, and there is little prospect of any such sales in the future.

Stora makes inroads into Canada
Stora is buying out Scott's 20% minority interest giving it control of Nova Scotia Pulp. The Swedish company plans to expand the mill with an additional 45,000 short tons/yr of bleached sulfite market pulp. The company will also add Nova Scotia's first newsprint line of 160,000 tons/yr.

Soviets start up giant complex
The Syktyvkar complex in Komi, USSR, has come into operation. Its pulp and paper capacity promises to rival that of the Bratsk complex in eastern Siberia.

South Africans build new mill
A two-machine paper mill with a groundwood pulp installation will be built shortly at Merebank by a group comprised of Anglo American, Bowater Paper and Johannesburg Consolidated Investment. Startup is scheduled for 1971.

Nigerians take plunge into paper
Nigeria's first paper mill has started up with a capacity of 12,000 tons/yr of printing and writing paper and board. The mill is owned by the federal military government and run by Birla Bros of India.

Scott joins up with Taiwan company
Taiwan Pulp & Paper and Scott Paper of the USA have joined in a 50-50 partnership to form Taiwan Scott Paper. The joint venture will manufacture tissue relying significantly on bagasse pulp.

New computer paper for UK
A new kind of paper for computers has been developed by the Wiggins Teape group. Its importance is that nearly all the optical scanners which do the reading for computers can read this paper. It is called Readaspeed and is made at the company's mill.

Papermakers fights on in Vietnam
Vietnam Paper Mill continues producing, expanding and supplying approximately 25% of country's paper requirements despite heavy warfare in the area. The printing and writing paper mill was built as a turnkey project by Parsons & Whittemore.

Nordland adds number two
Nordland Papier's new mill at Dörpen, which was inaugurated in February, will add a second paper machine of about 25,000 tons/yr capacity, to enable a complete range of paper grades to be offered. Nordland is owned by Kaukas and Kymmene of Finland.

New leader created in France
Cellulose de Pin, 55% owned by Saint-Gobain, will become the leading paper producer in France. The firms Saint-Gobain, Pricel and Progil have decided to regroup their interests in the pulp and paper industry under Cellulose de Pin. These interests include the Condat mill.

Kinleith PM up and running
PM 5 at New Zealand Forest Products is now producing packaging grades at a rate of 65,000 tons, raising the company's total paper output to 165,000 tons/yr. The 170-in trim width machine, the largest unit for NZFP, was supplied by Beloit-Walmsley.

Suppliers set up alliance
Tampella, Valmet and Wärtsilä, Finnish builders of papermaking machinery, are increasing their cooperative research and development activities. Tampella's traditional line includes board machines, Valmet specializes in newsprint and similar machines, Wärtsilä's production covers fine paper machines, coating equipment and roll finishing and wrapping lines.

Pulp is thin on the ground
Pulp is so scarce that higher prices on the continent are a certainty for the first quarter of 1970. One leading Benelux firm noted, "I haven't seen the pulp market in such a state for the past decade."

Enso-Gutzeit invests in news
Enso-Gutzeit plans to expand its Summa mill with the installation of a 7.65 m-wide newsprint machine. The new unit from Valmet will produce 137,000 tons/yr, raising the mills total capacity to almost 340,000 tons/yr.

Germans venture into Mexico
A German consortium, Klöckner /Voith, is to construct a 65,000 ton/yr integrated pulp and paper mill in the state of Michoacan, Mexico. The $25 million (DM 100 million) mill is expected to start up in three years.

Newsprint quotas set to soar
The EEC Council of Ministery has decided on a sizeable increase for duty-free newsprint imports, and much more than was suggested by the Economic Commission for Europe. The newsprint quota of 750,000 tons/yr has been raised by 300,000 tons to satisfy the sharply rising demand of the member countries.

Quakes hit Yugoslavian mill
Fabrika Celuloze I Viskoze Banja Luka, one of Yugoslavia's modern pulp mills, was among the hardest hit industrial installations during the earthquakes in October. Tanks and high density storage towers burst during the quakes, releasing up to 300 tons of pulp, which in turn contaminated the city water supply and seriously hindered fire fighting efforts.

EEC cracks whip at cartels
Investigations by the EEC's DG 4 (Directorate-General on Competition) into an alleged pulp cartel between Scandinavians, USA and Canada are almost complete, according to a spokesman for the Commission. Initial findings "appear to confirm the EEC industry's allegations", the spokesman said. Meanwhile investigations continue into another alleged cartel of newsprint suppliers to the EEC. It is not known how soon a decision is expected here.

PWA adds a machine at Mannheim
Papierwerke Waldhof-Aschaffenburg (PWA) is investing DM 60 million ($32 million) to add a fourth tissue machine at its Mannheim mill. It will make Mannheim the largest tissue mill in Europe with a total capacity of around 130,000 tons/yr. At present, Bowater-Scott's mill at Barrow-in-Furness, England, is Europe's largest tissue producer, with an estimated output of slightly over 100,000 tons/yr from four machines.

US unions strike on
Despite a recent settlement at Longview Fibre, the strike on the West Coast of the USA has continued to spread and now involves 31 pulp and paper mills and more than 15,000 union members.

MoDo tops the 10 million mark
Staff at MoDo's Husum mill in Sweden are celebrating the 10 millionth ton of pulp produced at the mill. MoDo believes no other mill has produced as much pulp, though there are several with a capacity that exceeds Husum's 495,000 tons/yr.

Feldmühle turns into big spender
Germany's Feldmühle has released full details of its major, company-wide expansion and modernization program, involving capital investments of DM 500 million ($270 million) over the next two years. This is the largest capital investment program in the Federal Republic's paper industry in many years and the largest in the EEC for some time.

News from Mexico
Mexicana de Papel Periodico started up the 100,000 ton/yr newsprint and textbook paper mill in Tres Valles, in the state of Veracruz. The mill is said to be the country's largest and newest.

CMPC to replace burnt out mill
CMPC is to build a new mill to replace the one that burned down in 1977. The new mill represents an investment over and above the $82 million currently being invested in a number of projects. No further details available yet.

China opens up to Canadians
Canadian Cellulose has negotiated a three-year contract to sell kraft pulp to China. It is believed to be the first long-term contract for wood pulp shipments to China.

Siberian project set for startup
The giant Ust-Ilimsk project in Siberia is due to start operations in the first half of this year. The complex includes a 250,000 ton/yr line for bleached softwood kraft pulp and there are also plans for another line of this size.

Phoenix sees progress at last
The long-awaited $60 million pulp project planned by Phoenix Pulp and Paper seems set to get under way as a result of the Thai Bankers' Assn's decision recently to guarantee a long-term loan of roughly $30 million.

Weyerhaeuser splashes out in US
Weyerhaeuser directors have approved one of the biggest pulp and paper expansions ever to be announced. They want to build a $750 million complex at Columbus, Mississippi, which will probably make about half a million tons/yr of printing/writings when it is completed in five to six years.

Bahia breaks in sisal pulp mill
Companhia de Celulose da Bahia is starting up a sisal market pulp mill. The mill will produce long-fiber market pulp bleached to 90-92 GE, with a nominal capacity of 300 tons/day.

Tucuman gets VIP treatment
Argentine president Jorge Rafael Videla laid the cornerstone for the $200 million Papel de Tucuman newsprint project in ceremonies held on 8 May at La Reduccion. The project involves the construction of a 110,000 ton/yr newsprint mill based largely on bagasse pulp.

Suppliers set to merge
Sunds, the machinery manufacturing subsidiary of Svenska Cellulosa (SCA), reports that it is in the final stages of negotiations to acquire Defribrator of Stockholm, a major producer of thermomechanical pulping lines and other process equipment.

Zanders wins race to supply Olympics
Zanders has been named official supplier for the 1980 Moscow Olympics. Official invitations, programs and even postcards will be printed on paper and board supplied by Zanders Feinpapiere of the Federal Republic.

First grinders on the go
The first commercial pressurized grinders have been ordered from Tampella of Finland. Myllykoski has ordered two units with a total capacity of 100 tons/day for startup in June 1980.

IP gets foothold in French market
Aussedat-Rey has accepted in principle International Paper's takeover bid for 100% of its shares at a price of FF 675/share, or approximately FF 2,025 million ($323 million) in total. Aussedat Rey produces about 500,000 tons/yr of mainly printing/writing papers and is France's third largest paper producer, after Cellulose du Pin and Arjomari-Prioux.

MoDo bows out of tissue market
Finnish producer, Metsä-Serla has signed an agreement with Sweden's MoDo under which Metsä-Serla will buy MoDo's tissue assets. The deal, valued at SEK 1,300 million ($205 million), is expected to be finalized by the end of the year.

VCP orders two PMs
Grupo Votorantim has placed an order for two printings and writings PMs for its Guatapara mill in the Luis Antonio district, north west of Sao Paulo. The mill already has a capacity of 500 tons/day of eucalyptus pulp.

Södra spins off paper plants
Södra Skogsägarna is selling its papermaking divisions, Klippans Finnpappersbruk and Fridafors Bruk, to their management. Included are the Klippan mill, making 40,000 tons/y of printing and writing papers, the Lessebo mill, making 50,000 tons/yr and the 15,000 ton/yr Fridafors board mill.

Norske Skog hits France
The big newsprint producer, Norske Skogindustrier, will definitely go ahead with its greenfield newsprint mill in France. Plans now call for the construction of the 200,000 ton/yr PM to start in the second half of 1989.

KNP homes in on Leykam
KNP, the Netherlands' biggest papermaker, has finally silenced rumors and speculation with its announcement that it will take the largest possible minority stake in Leykam-Mürztaler, Austria's largest paper producer.

Oji takes control of Toyo
Toyo pulp, which is currently building a new woodfree PM to start up in March, will merge with Oji Paper on 1 April 1989. Oji has cooperated with Toyo in several managerial and technical areas since the early 1980s and following the merger Toyo will be dissolved.

Stake in supplier to go on sale
A shareholding in family-owned Voith, one of Germany's leading suppliers to the paper industry, could be up for sale soon. Sulzer Escher Wyss, another leading supplier, has told PPI that it is one of the parties interested.

Stone eyes up Bathurst
Stone Container has stunned the paper industry with a C$2,600 million ($2.2 million) takeover bid for Consolidated-Bathurst. The takeover looked as though it would be successful, and friendly, as Con-Bath's three largest shareholders immediately accepted Stone's offer.

Saffa plans Mediterranean merger
Italian folding boxboard producer Cartiere Saffa is to merge with one of Spain's biggest printings/writings papermakers, Sarrio. The new company formed by the merger will be 35% owned by Saffa, the holding company of Cartiere Saffa, and will be among the biggest of Europe's papermakers, with annual sales of about ITL 1,000,000 million ($700 million).

UPM takes Kajaani under its wing
After taking over the Joutseno pulp mill earlier this year, United Paper Mills (UPM) has now announced that it is merging Finnish papermaker Kajaani into UPM at the end of this year.

US firm aims big in Brazil
There is a 50% chance that Brazil's Champion Papel e Celulose will go ahead with a big new greenfield pulp and paper mill. It would be sited at Tres Lagoas, in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul. Capacity would be between 500-700 tons/day of pulp and 300-500 tons/day of printing and writing papers on one machine.

Soporcel branches out into paper
Another 220,000 ton/yr uncoated woodfree PM is scheduled to start up in mid-1991, as Soporcel has finally decided to partially integrate its pulp mill at Figueira da Foz.

Tissue trio expands in the UK
One of Europe's leading tissue teams consisting of Nokia, James River and Ferruzzi is expanding further as Nokia has now acquired total control of British Tissues.

Bunzl exits paper production
Less paper production and more paper sales appears to be Bunzl's strategy for the coming years. The company has put its four paper mills up for sale as part of a restructuring plan.

Explosion cuts Indonesian output
Due to an explosion in a power boiler, the Kertas Kraft Aceh mill is currently running at half its capacity. The company started up the greenfield mill near Lhok Seumawe, Sumatra, in September last year.

FC starts new PM at Blandin
Fletcher Challenge has started up its new 7.8 m LWC machine at Blandin Paper in Grand Rapids, Minnesota. The new PM 6 replaces PM 1 and will boost capacity at the mill by 180,000 tons to 455,000 tons/yr.

UPM-Kymmene starts giant PM
UPM-Kymmene has started up its new lightweight coated (LWC) PM at the Rauma mill in Finland. Capacity at the site will increase by 400,000 tons/yr to a total of 1,100,000 tons/yr.

Segezha grinds to a halt
Production at Segezhabumprom in Karelia is to stop after talks with shareholders failed to raise sufficient capital. Sweden's AssiDomän had already decided it would withdraw support for the mill.

Stora sets up in China
Stora is to extend its global grip with plans to acquire a majority stake in the Chinese fine paper company, Suzhou Papyrus Paper.

Indonesian woodfrees hit Europe
Surya Agung Kertas has begun commercial production on a new fine paper machine at its mill in Indonesia and the output has started to hit European markets. Most of the output will be sold in Europe at prices far below the European average.

Champion buys out Inpacel
The indebted Brazilian group, Inpacel, was sold at public auction to Champion International's Brazilian subsidiary, Champion Papel e Celulose. The company offered the minimum price of $75 million which was accepted.

Bowater bails out Halla
The US company, Bowater, has reached an agreement to buy Korea's financially-troubled Halla Pulp and Paper for $220 million, including debt. The two parties have been in negotiations since the devaluation of the Korean currency and the Halla Group's bankruptcy.

Smurfit / Stone merger on cards
The Jefferson Smurfit Corporation and Stone Container are to merge in an $11 billion transaction. The two US companies have signed a merger agreement to create a new company named Smurfit-Stone Container Corporation.

Norske Skog goes for Asian double
Norske Skog plans to buy a 90% stake in Shin Ho Paper's Chong Won mill in Korea. The move comes just days after Norske Skog announced it will take a controlling stake in Shin Ho Paper's Thai newsprint operation.

Mayr-Melnhof consolidates at top
Mayr-Melnhof has set its sights on a merger with the Italian group, Reno de Medici. The alliance wold create the world's second-largest cartonboard producer, with a total annual capacity of two million tons.

FCC settles strike action
Fletcher Challenge Canada's (FCC) nine-month strike has finally been resolved. Union members at the company's three pulp and paper mills voted 59.3% in favor of accepting a new six-year contract.

MacBlo bows out of paper
MacMillan Bloedel is to sell its paper subsidiary, MB Paper, to a Vancouver-based investment group for C$850 million ($592 million).

SC monster on the move
Stora has started up a new 350,000 ton/yr supercalendered (SC) paper machine at its Port Hawkesbury mill in Nova Scotia, Canada. The new PM is reported to be the world's fastest and widest SC machine.

New newsprint giant strides forward
Norway's Norske Skog, Canada's Abitibi-Consolidated and Korea's Hansol have taken global consolidation a step further with the formation of a newsprint joint venture in Asia. The deal with create the largest newsprint operation in Asia, excluding Japan.

KNP BT sold off for $1.7 billion
KNP BT's packaging arm has been sold off to two venture capital companies after the parties agreed a NLG 3.4 billion ($1.7 billion) cash deal. The amount that CVC Capital Partners and Cinven paid for the unit is widely agreed to be on the high side.

Workers walk out at Abitibi
Some 5,000 Abitibi-Consolidated (A-C) workers have gone on strike at 11 paper mills in eastern Canada. A-C and the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada failed to resolve their differences on talks to determine the negotiating process for contracts.

Latvia chooses Scandinavian duo
Finland's Metsäliitto and Sweden's Södra have beaten the competition to invest in a proposed Latvian pulp mill. Plans involve a 600,000 ton/yr greenfield market pulp mill at a cost of SEK 7,000 million ($882 million).

Enso strikes deal with Asians
Enso has signed a new deal with Thailand's Advance Agro (AA) and Japan's Oji Paper. Under the agreement, Enso will buy a 19.9% stake in AA and the two companies have also signed with Oji. The Japanese company plans to buy a 5.5% stake in AA.

Durango buys up newsprint mills
Durango is to take control of the Mexican government's ailing Pipsa group for Pesos 1,114 million ($112 million). The acquisition will be the packaging group's first interest in the newsprint sector.

Smurfit to build first mill
Jefferson Smurfit has revealed plans to build its first ever greenfield mill. The company has been well known for acquiring new capacity rather than building it in the past, but as a spokesman for the firm said, "There are simply no more mills left to take over." Smurfit is set to complete the construction of the new 500,000 ton/yr linerboard mill in Hungary by 2012.

SCA-Serla sets up in Cuba
SCA-Serla will be the first European company to build a printing and writing mill in post-communist Cuba. The company plans to construct a new 200,000 ton/yr mill by the end of 2010.

Ence starts up mill in Uruguay
Ence's new 1.5 million ton/yr pulp mill has come on stream in Uruguay. The totally chlorine free (TCF) pulp plant cost over $6 billion to construct and took two years to complete. Output will be sold in Latin America.

Russia turns out record profits
Russian mills have enjoyed a bumper first quarter in 2009, churning out record profits. The performance of Russia's pulp and papermakers overshadowed that of many of their western European counterparts who are suffering from a drop-off in consumption levels. The mills have benefited from strong demand levels at home and in their main export markets in Asia.

Euro crash prompts paper crisis
The dramatic devaluation of the Euro last week has prompted investors to flee European paper stocks. Many investors are now turning to Russian paper and packaging stocks, encouraged by the stable rouble.

Pulp prices sink to all-time low
Pulp prices are floundering at just $300/ton following the startup of a number of new mills in eastern Europe and Latin America. But industry observers are confident that that this is only a temporary blip in the market. Market commentators predict that prices could reach as high as $400/ton for NBSK by the end of the year. Elections in Europe and the US are expected to boost consumption.

Vatican prayers answeredby paper
The Pope has announced that the Vatican is to invest in a new bible paper mill in a bid to boost declining interest in the church. The new plant is to produce colored bible paper that will glow in the dark, specially designed to appeal to a younger audience. The new 150,000 ton/yr plant is to be built in Rome.

Latvian mill plans line two
Metsäliitto and Södra are planning to add an additional line at their 750,000 ton/yr market pulp mill in Latvia. The companies are waiting for international pulp markets to pick up before making any decision on a second 800,000 ton/yr line.

Virgin lands in paper sector
UK entrepreneur, Richard Branson, has decided to branch out into the paper sector. Branson plans to build a new 150,000 ton/yr tissue center in the UK. The new plant will operate under the name of Virgin Paper.

Suppliers set for merger moves
Valmet-Rauma and Voith Sulzer look set to join forces in the next 12 months. The new company will create a world leader in the pulp and paper machinery sector, if approved by the regulatory authorities. The merger announcement follows in the wake of last year's Beloit link-up with Ahlstrom-Kvaerner.

Capacity tops one million tons
APP has started up the world's first one million ton/yr paper machine at its new mill in Sumatra, Indonesia. The company plans to sell most of the PM's coated woodfree output in European and North American markets. Eugene van As of Sappi described the news of the startup as "tragic" for the coated woodfree market, which has suffered from chronic global overcapacity for practically a decade.

Aiming for a new record
The world's first 4,000 m/min woodfree PM is set to start up in Thailand next month. The machine will produce just one grade of copy paper - Global - at two basis weights - 70 g/m2 and 80 g/m2.