Sappi North America named Kirk Ross, 51, as President and CEO effective Jan. 1, 2027. He has been VP Manufacturing since July 2025 and earlier directed the Somerset Mill PM2 conversion. Mike Haws, CEO for seven years, retires in February 2027 (PaperAge)
Germany's Bundeskartellamt cleared Mayr-Melnhof's purchase of RDM's Arnsberg recycled cartonboard mill on Sept. 24. The mill makes about 230,000 t/yr, mainly GD liner, and sits near MM's Neuss mill, where MM recently converted a machine to liner. Closing is expected in Q4 2026 (EUWID)
The UPM–Sappi European graphic paper JV is still under an in-depth EU investigation, following an August Statement of Objections over reduced competition. South Africa has cleared the deal unconditionally, and the companies expect the remaining decisions before end-2026 (PULPAPERnews)
Kimberly-Clark President and COO Russ Torres will leave in November to become CEO elsewhere. Two Kenvue executives get regional roles: Carlos De Jesus will lead North America, and Leonardo Curado will lead EMEA from Jan. 1, 2027. The Kenvue acquisition is expected to close in Q4 (PULPAPERnews)
Forestry & Timber
Commerce's Section 232 report on hardwood imports was due to President Trump on Oct. 1. He now decides whether to adopt the phased hardwood lumber tariff Commerce recommended in July 2025 or put duties on plywood, veneer and engineered flooring. Softwood lumber has carried a 10% tariff since October 2025, and US hardwood lumber output is down 48.3% since 2018 (Wood Central)
On Sept. 28 Texas Gov. Abbott issued a statewide disaster declaration over record diesel prices. As a result, timber, fuel and farm trucks can run at up to 95,000 lb gross without an overweight permit, up from 80,000 lb. Diesel averaged $5.955/gal on the Gulf Coast and $6.382 nationally (Wood Central)
Finland's licensing authority and the Finnish Association for Nature Conservation say Google cleared 300+ ha at its Muhos data-centre site. The regulator had said in May that an environmental assessment was needed first, but felling continued through August. Google says it complied with the Forest Act. Both the Muhos and Kajaani sites are under building bans while appeals proceed (Wood Central)
Japan started 39,392 wooden homes in August, 61.6% of all starts and the fifth straight monthly rise. H1 sawn timber imports fell 13% to 1.64M m³, with EU down 10%, Canada down 13% to 322,000 m³ and Russia down 23%, as builders shift to domestic species (Wood Central)
Tirol's spruce sawlog index (B/C 2a–3b) averaged €125.15/fm in September. That is +0.5% from August and about +6.2% year on year (Fordaq)
Co-generation at Mills
OneFortyOne has installed the 162-tonne boiler for its A$88M co-generation project at the Jubilee sawmill in Mount Gambier, South Australia. The plant will turn wood-fibre residues into enough electricity to take the sawmill off the grid (Timberbiz)
Wood Pellets
German pellet prices averaged €454.21/t in September for 6-t lots (DEPI), up 6.2% from August, or 9.1 ct/kWh. DEPI cites seasonal demand and fewer sawmill residues because of weak sawmilling and construction (top agrar)
New Zealand's EECA put in NZ$3.7M, which unlocked NZ$11.6M of private money for five wood-fuel aggregation hubs between Southland and Waikato (200,000 t/yr, ~2 PJ). Four more plants for torrefied biomass and white pellets are in development (500,000+ t/yr, up to NZ$450M). They would replace coal and gas at industrial sites (Timberbiz)
Czech competition authorities fined state forest company Lesy ČR CZK 17.27M (~€713,000). The fine is for a clause in a long-term supply contract that restricted exports of wood chips and logging residues (Global Wood Markets Info)
Industry Technology Vendors
RemaSawco (Image Systems) — Won a just-under SEK 1.5M order from an unnamed Nordic sawmill for a new saw-line control system plus a service-level agreement. Delivery and commissioning are planned for 2027 (TipRanks)
Toscotec — Will supply Lucart with an AHEAD 1.8 tissue machine (PM15) for its Laval-sur-Vologne mill in France. The machine runs up to 1,800 m/min at 15–22 g/m², and its TT e-Powered Hoods can run fully electric, hybrid or on gas. It lifts the mill to 75,000 t/yr (PULPAPERnews, EUWID)
Valmet — Expanded its partnership with VTT on Oct. 1, combining their pilot facilities in Jyväskylä to speed scale-up of fiber-based products, including molded fiber and foam application of chemicals (Valmet)
