Paper & Pulp Mills
Metsä Fibre's Kemi bioproduct mill to shut for six weeks this autumn Update: The Kemi outage will temporarily remove roughly 900,000 cubic metres of wood demand from a mill that consumes about 7.6 million cubic metres annually, leaving forest owners, harvesting contractors and transporters in northern Finland facing softer demand and more complicated logistics. Source: PULPAPERnews
Alberta backs C$50 million modernization of Alberta Newsprint's Whitecourt mill The province is contributing over C$1.5 million through its Investment and Growth Fund to a nearly C$50 million project that will let the province's only newsprint mill produce multiple paper grades beyond newsprint. The upgrade creates 13 permanent jobs, about 25 construction jobs, and helps retain more than 220 existing positions at the Stern Group–West Fraser joint venture. Source: Paper Advance
MM Board & Paper agrees to acquire R.D.M. Arnsberg cartonboard mill MM Board & Paper has signed a deal to buy the German recycled cartonboard mill in Arnsberg, which produces about 230,000 tonnes of recycled fibre-based cartonboard per year. Closing is expected in Q4 2026, subject to antitrust approval. Source: Paper Advance
Quesnel River Pulp curtailment to run until at least November Operations at the Quesnel River Pulp mill in Quesnel, B.C. are curtailed until at least November, sidelining about 90 workers, with the company citing global pulp oversupply and declining demand. Management cautioned the curtailment could become permanent if market conditions do not improve. Source: Quesnel Cariboo Observer
Forestry & Timber
Latvia fines state forest company €7.86 million over preferential timber supply Latvia's Competition Council fined state-owned Latvijas Valsts Meži €7.86 million for allegedly granting a group of wood-processing companies preferential access to state roundwood under contracts dating back to the 1990s. The company rejects the ruling and plans to contest it in court. Source: Global Wood Markets Info
France faces autumn timber oversupply after summer wildfires July wildfires in southwest France have left millions of cubic metres of maritime pine that must be harvested and sold quickly before the wood loses value, setting up a significant oversupply in the French timber market this autumn. Source: Global Wood Markets Info
GreenFirst returns to profit in Q2; CEO Joel Fournier to step down GreenFirst Forest Products posted Q2 net income of C$5.5 million and adjusted EBITDA of C$11.8 million on higher lumber prices (average realized C$764 per thousand board feet) and a 10% sequential drop in manufacturing costs. The company also announced that CEO Joel Fournier will step down. Sources: Paper Advance · Paper Advance
Wood Pellets
US$1.7 million grant to build Tribal woody biomass markets The Intertribal Timber Council and Sustainable Northwest received a five-year, US$1.7 million award from the U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities to help more than 60 Tribal Nations develop infrastructure and markets for woody biomass and small-diameter wood now left as wildfire fuel. The initiative will launch a "Wood and Biomass Hub" starting with three pilot tribal communities. Source: Bioenergy Insight