German cartonboard maker Tullau Pappen Karl Kurz has filed for insolvency after nearly 150 years — the Heilbronn court has opened preliminary proceedings with Tibor Braun as provisional administrator, both mills (Tullau in Baden-Württemberg and Trauchgau in Bavaria, ~45 employees each) keep running, wages are secured through October, and management blames electricity, gas, oil and CO₂-certificate costs it could not pass on to customers; a sale of all or part of the group is on the table (EUWID, t-online)
Metsä Group's planned biogenic CO₂ capture plant at the Rauma pulp mill won €21M in Finnish state aid via a reverse auction — the ~€70M unit would capture 100,000 t/yr of CO₂ from the recovery boiler flue gas for e-fuel producers, with a final investment decision possible in early 2027 at the earliest pending permits and customer demand (PaperAge, Finnish Government)
Smurfit Westrock and Pratt Industries, backed by the United Steelworkers, filed AD/CVD petitions against corrugated pizza boxes from China, Malaysia and Turkey, alleging dumping margins of 97–569% (China), 111% (Malaysia) and 121–210% (Turkey) as imports surged 130% from 2023 to 2025; Commerce has ~20 days to initiate and the ITC ~45 days for a preliminary injury finding (Packaging Dive, PULPAPERnews)
Smurfit Westrock's Parenco mill in Renkum, Netherlands has been granted an environmental permit by the Province of Gelderland to expand production and potentially convert to recycled containerboard, over objections from a residents' association (EUWID, De Vallei)
European cartonboard price hikes: RDM Group is raising its entire WLC range by €80/t and Mayr-Melnhof Board & Paper is adding €75/t across its cartonboard portfolio from October (EUWID – RDM, EUWID – MM)
Forestry & Timber
The US Forest Service will close 23 of 64 reviewed research and administrative sites while keeping 41 open — including the Forest Products Laboratory in Madison, its only wood research facility, which also becomes a regional state office and operations service center; the agency cites $16M+ in savings ($8.8M/yr in leases) against $3B of deferred maintenance, says ~95 affected staff will relocate and no science programs or experimental forests will be cut (Wood Central, The Hill)
Keitele Wood will start the second phase of its ~€40M Keitele sawmill expansion in autumn 2027, covering kiln drying, mill logistics, sawline infeed and debarking; phase one (new dry sorting and packaging plant) has run at ~90% since late August, with the program targeting ~600,000 m³/yr of sawn softwood from ~1.35M m³ of roundwood (EUWID, Keitele Group)
UK H1 2026 timber and panel imports fell 3.9% — softwood 2.898M m³ (–4.9%), plywood 627,000 m³ (–13.6%) and CLT just 7,000 m³ (–60.7%, with Austria's share rising to 86%), while MDF rose 13.1% to 416,000 m³ as Chinese volumes doubled and OSB edged up 2.3% (Timber Development UK) (Wood Central)
Co-Generation
The UK biomass sector is warning of plant closures after the government ruled out any successor to Renewables Obligation support for sub-100 MW biomass and CHP generators, whose payments expire between 2027 and 2037; the Wood Recyclers' Association says millions of tonnes of waste wood could be exported, landfilled or dumped, while energy minister Michael Shanks calls small-scale biomass "relatively high-cost" and claims ~£1bn/yr in consumer savings (Bioenergy Insight, letsrecycle)
Industry Technology Vendors
Mühlböck — Received an order for 15 combined drying and steaming kilns from hardwood processor Fagus Slovencia for a new woodworking facility in Kočevska Reka, Slovenia (EUWID)
