Brazilian pulp exporters fell after the first round of the presidential election. Suzano dropped 5.4% and Klabin 0.9%, while the main index hit a record, because the real jumped 4.1% against the dollar, its biggest one-day move since 2018. About 78% of Suzano's revenue is in dollars, but most of its costs are in reais. Flávio Bolsonaro (47.03%) and Lula (45.16%) go to a runoff on Oct. 26 (Wood Central)
Papelera de Oiartzun, part of Spain's CL Grupo Industrial, has bought the production assets of the insolvent Papresa in Errentería and taken on some of its insolvency claims. The mill will keep making newsprint and containerboard (EUWID)
Solenis has moved its Pulp Center of Excellence from the U.S. to a new 500 m² facility in Paulínia, Brazil, to be closer to the fastest-growing pulp region. Projects under way include a talc-free pitch-control platform, a cooking additive to improve yield and silicone-free defoamers (PULPAPERnews)
Igepa's shareholder holding company has bought all of German paper and packaging wholesaler Freytag & Petersen, which has 250+ staff at sites in Cologne, Dortmund and Trier. Igepa has about 2,950 employees and had ~€1.6B in 2025 turnover (EUWID, PaperAge)
Update: Port Saint John, Atlantic Canada's largest port, says it is already feeling the effects of AV Group's planned idling of the Nackawic pulp mill (CTV News)
Forestry & Timber
Germany's cabinet has sent the Bundestag a bill to enforce the EUDR. Deliberate breaches could bring up to 5 years in prison, and breaches that damage ecosystems up to 10. Due-diligence failures could be fined up to €100,000 or 4% of EU turnover, whichever is higher. The federal food agency BLE expects about 2,300 checks a year, and the law would take effect Dec. 30 (Wood Central)
Update: Public comment on USDA's proposal to repeal the 2001 Roadless Rule closed on Oct. 6. The rule covers ~58.5M acres across 120 national forests, including 180,000+ acres in West Virginia. USDA will now review the comments before it decides (Plumas Sun, Mountain State Spotlight)
UK softwood sawn-timber imports are expected to finish 2026 below 2025 because construction is weak. Pressure on Scandinavian sawmills to move volume could also sharpen price competition in Q4 (Global Wood Markets Info)
Wood Pellets
Southwest Arkansas has received a BDO Zone "AA" rating, the top tier, from Ecostrat and the BDO Zone Initiative. The rating covers 1.026M bone-dry tons a year of low-risk woody biomass within 75 miles of Prescott, where the growth-to-drain ratio is 1.6. It beats the "A" rating Moore County, N.C. received earlier and puts the 126-acre Prescott Industrial Park on I-30 forward for bio-based projects (Bioenergy Insight)
U.S. wood pellet exports rose 3% year on year in August to 903,400 t, but the average export price slipped 4% (Lesprom)
Industry Technology Vendors
CPM — The pelleting and process-equipment maker has named Jeremy Patten CEO. He was previously president of Modine's Performance Technologies segment and has held senior roles at ATS, IDEX and Danaher (Bioenergy Insight)
