About 100 people rallied in Nackawic, N.B. on Oct. 16 ahead of AV Group's planned Nov. 4 shutdown of the AV Nackawic pulp mill (~350 jobs, 228 Unifor members); asked whether the mill is likely to reopen, Premier Susan Holt said "very unlikely." The rally was one of 36 held across Canada for Unifor's Forestry National Day of Action, where the union demanded a national forestry industrial strategy, a federal transformation fund tied to modernization and immediate worker transition supports (River Valley Sun, CTV, Unifor)
Ottawa is putting C$30M (C$20M Strategic Response Fund, C$10M IFIT) into Hitachi Energy's C$478.8M London, Ont. plant that will turn wood fibre into up to 20,000 t/yr of electrical-grade transformer pressboard and laminated insulation — Canada's first such facility, adding 100+ jobs and sourcing fibre inputs domestically (Government of Canada)
A fire has forced Stora Enso to temporarily halt newsprint production on PM 4 at its Langerbrugge, Belgium publication-paper mill; no restart date has been given (EUWID)
Washington's Department of Ecology issued Port Townsend Paper a notice of violation on Oct. 14 for two clean-water permit breaches last November, including a Nov. 20 untreated-wastewater spill into Port Townsend Bay that a second former employee now says was far larger than the company reported; the mill maintains the spill was minor and Ecology is weighing penalties. This is separate from the $734,000 fine levied in September (Tree Frog / Seattle Times)
Commerce's final determinations (Oct. 13) set duties on high-purity dissolving pulp at 15.77% combined for Brazil's Bracell (6.40% AD cash deposit plus 9.37% CVD, up from 3.67% preliminary) and 6.51% AD for Norway's Borregaard; petitioners were RYAM and the USW, and orders follow if the ITC finds injury within 45 days (ITA, Lesprom)
Maine's Greater Augusta Utility District has sued Sappi, Huhtamaki, Kimberly-Clark and two American Tissue entities in federal court (filed Oct. 7) to recover PFAS treatment costs after its Riverside wells tested at 23.3 ppt in Nov. 2024; it has since installed a ~$2M treatment system. Sappi says it complies with its permits and does not knowingly use PFAS (Paper Advance)
Metsä Fibre says there is no near-term basis for restarting its Joutseno NBSK pulp mill, idle since late March, citing wood and pulp market conditions, and cannot give a restart date (EUWID)
Finland's pulpwood imports fell 42% year-on-year in August, with the average import price down 3% (Lesprom)
Forestry & Timber
The first round of layoffs at Carrier Forest Products' Big River, Sask. sawmill began this week, with more expected in November and January, following July's indefinite curtailment; the NDP accused the province of having no plan, and the government said rapid-response teams have visited five times and cited a C$15.6M Workforce Tariff Response fund that has so far paid C$791,000 to support ~133 forestry workers (paNOW)
Tolko is transferring Forest Licence A98912 (52,100 m³ AAC) to Westbank First Nation's Ntityix Development Corp. under a 15-year, auto-renewing fibre supply deal covering three tenures with a combined harvest of 115,000+ m³/yr; Ntityix takes over harvest planning and the province is expected to fund its capacity-building (Castanet)
U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria (N.D. Cal.) issued a preliminary order on Oct. 13 blocking USDA from moving Forest Service headquarters to Salt Lake City, closing regional offices and reassigning staff outside their areas, finding the department "has almost certainly been violating" congressional reorganization restrictions; he warned the order may lapse when current appropriations expire in under two months (Stateline)
Federal records show no bids on ~267 million board feet of Forest Service timber in the first three quarters of FY2026, as sawmill closures, record diesel costs and collapsing pulpwood and biomass markets thin the buyer pool; the agency says it still sold 3.3 billion board feet and that ~15% of sales typically go unbid (NYT via GV Wire)
Alberta Forest Products Association CEO Jason Krips will step down at the end of 2026 after nearly seven years to join the University of Alberta's executive team; the board has begun a search (AFPA)
Madison's Lumber Prices Index was US$499/mfbm for the week of Oct. 16, down $1 on the week and $6 on the month (Madison's)
Co-generation & Mill Energy
Spanish energy firms Moeve and ENSO have partnered to convert energy-intensive industrial sites — naming paper and board among target sectors — from coal and gas to biomass-fired steam and thermal generation, alongside biomethane and e-fuel projects using biogenic CO₂; no projects, capacities or investment figures were disclosed (Bioenergy Insight)
Wood Pellets
EU wood pellet imports rose 37% year-on-year in August, with the average import price up 5% (Lesprom)
Industry Technology Vendors
Valmet — Will supply two complete BCTMP lines (4A and 4B, 1,200 adt/day each) using HT-CTMP technology and Valmet DNA controls to Sinar Mas APP affiliate Guangxi Jingui Pulp & Paper in Qinzhou, China, with startup in H2 2027; value undisclosed, booked in Q2 2026 orders (Valmet)
