Update: Domtar also cited U.S. trade pressures for the Howe Sound idling, and B.C.'s Council of Forest Industries called it a blow to the coastal fibre economy (BNN Bloomberg, Canadian Biomass).
The Canada Border Services Agency has launched investigations into alleged dumping of paperboard cups into the Canadian market (PULPAPERnews).
Forestry & Timber
Update: U.S.–Canada trade talks collapsed after the Aug 22 pause, triggering the 50% Section 338 tariffs on roughly $20B of Canadian imports — lumber, panels, paper and value-added forest products — with FPAC issuing a four-point emergency plan urging worker supports, import monitoring and federal procurement of Canadian wood, and Prime Minister Carney issuing a statement on the negotiations August 22 (Timber Industry News, Canadian Biomass, Canadian Biomass).
Metsä Wood has kicked off a 50% expansion of LVL capacity at its Äänekoski, Finland site (Timber Industry News).
Wood Pellets
Five former Enviva executives are being sued over ~$650M in late-2022 pellet trades with RWE (~1.76M tonnes at above-market price commitments) that produced hundreds of millions in projected losses and preceded the company's Chapter 11 filing (Timber Industry News).
The UK is forecast to consume a record 10.35 million metric tons of wood pellets in 2026 (+4%), with ~10.15 million tons imported; Drax also received a permit variation in August allowing carbon capture at its power station (Biomass Magazine).
