Norske Skog will spend up to ~NOK 850M (~US$89M) to rebuild PM6 at its Saugbrugs mill in Halden, Norway. PM6 has been idle since the April 2023 rockslide and will be able to make up to ~300,000 t/yr of TMP-based kraftliner or ~230,000 t/yr of SC magazine paper, with startup in H1 2028. Once PM6 is running, PM4 (100,000 t/yr) and PM5 (110,000 t/yr) will close for good, and the new machine will need fewer staff. Norske Skog is also looking at an 80–100 MW data centre on part of the site (PaperAge, PULPAPERnews)
CMPC has pushed its final investment decision on the US$4.6B, 2.5M t/yr Natureza pulp mill in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, to year-end. The project costs almost twice CMPC's market value, and analysts warn it could cost the company its investment-grade rating, which S&P already rates one notch above junk with a negative outlook. Licensing still depends on a second Funai Indigenous assessment and a pending court case, and CMPC has warned the mill could move to Paraguay (Wood Central, Bloomberg)
Missiles hit the Kyiv Cardboard and Paper Mill on Oct. 7, its third strike in six months. Production and storage buildings, equipment and utilities were damaged, and production has stopped. No staff were hurt (UNN)
Russian newsprint maker Solikamskbumprom owes creditors more than 15B roubles, and more than 10 of them have filed insolvency claims. Only one paper machine is running. Chinese company Yun Chou is negotiating about 20B roubles of investment over several years, but creditors say they have not seen a deal or a repayment plan (Wood Central)
Envelope and packaging maker Supremex will cut about 60 jobs (~6% of staff). It is moving folding-carton work from its Saint-Laurent, Que. site to Lachine and consolidating envelope plants, citing a net tariff hit of C$10–12M a year. It expects ~C$5.7M in annual savings and a ~C$1.8M Q4 charge (Paper Advance)
Forestry & Timber
A U.S. district judge in San Francisco, Vince Chhabria, is deciding whether to block USDA's reorganization indefinitely. That would include staff moves to the Forest Service's new Salt Lake City headquarters and the plan to close its nine regional offices. Relocation deadlines across eight USDA divisions are paused for now, and a decision is expected in mid-October (Wood Central)
BLM sold about 121 MMBF of timber on ~5,300 acres in Oregon, Washington, Wyoming and Idaho in Q3 2026, bringing in $29.8M (BLM)
Outlooks at the NHLA convention in Cleveland describe U.S. hardwood sawmills as being in more than a prolonged downturn. Mills are closing, export demand is moving from lumber to logs, and weak housing and consumer confidence are holding back domestic buying (Global Wood Markets Info)
Natural Resources Wales says it is "minded to grant" a permit variation for Kronospan's proposed OSB line at Chirk and has opened a consultation on its draft decision (Global Wood Markets Info)
Co-generation at Mills
Felix Schoeller plans a ~30 MW waste-wood biomass plant to supply steam and electricity to its Osnabrück-Lüstringen paper mill, which still runs largely on natural gas. The plant would burn waste wood from within 100 km. Permitting under Germany's Federal Immission Control Act could take up to two years (Bioenergy Insight)
Wood Pellets
U.S. wood pellet output was 874,400 t in July, down 8.4% from a year earlier but up 1.3% from June (Lesprom)
The EIA's Winter Fuels Outlook expects about 1.62M U.S. households to heat mainly with wood this winter, down 4% from ~1.69M, with declines in every region (Bioenergy Insight)
Pacolet Milliken has bought Georgia Renewable Power's two 58 MW woody-biomass power plants in Franklin and Madison counties, Ga. Both sell power to Georgia Power under PPAs that run to 2047. Pacolet now owns 171 MW of biomass capacity in Georgia, and Manulife provided the financing (Paper Advance)
Industry Technology Vendors
Valmet — Is expanding its work with VTT, combining their pilot facilities in Jyväskylä, Finland, to take fibre-based products from early development through piloting to industrial scale. Focus areas include foam application of chemicals and molded fiber (PaperAge)
IBS Paper Performance Group — Says its iTABLE maXX units on a 115,000 t/yr European packaging-paper machine allowed the mill to stop using dry-strength additives, saving ~€865,000 a year. Formation improved by up to 12% and burst strength by up to 10%, and the project paid back within months (PULPAPERnews)
