Mondi's Q3 trading update: price increases pushed through on containerboard, uncoated fine paper, kraft paper and paper bags as energy, wood (Central and Eastern Europe) and raw-material costs kept rising; Q3 underlying EBITDA was €196M vs €167M in Q2 (Q2 carried a €43M negative forestry fair-value movement, so ex-items EBITDA fell on planned maintenance shutdowns). Mondi is transferring volumes out of converting plants slated to close later in 2026, has sold one solid-board converting plant and agreed to sell a second; sites were not named (Paper Advance)
Part two of BIV's investigation into Domtar's Howe Sound Pulp & Paper mill (Port Mellon, B.C.): the mill has 37 recorded gas-exposure claims and annual injury-claim payouts reached ~C$1.67M by 2024 (from under C$150K nine years earlier), yet of two dozen former workers interviewed only one receives long-term compensation (~C$450/month). Domtar says lost-time injury rates are down 75% since 2017 with no gas-exposure lost-time injuries since July 2022; WorkSafeBC says each claim is decided on its own evidence (BIV, Castanet)
Forestry & Timber
Midway is reviewing its Bell Bay, Tasmania woodchip export operation over woodchip prices and diesel costs (Launceston diesel up 110.7¢/L since February to 286.9¢/L); the Bell Bay Advanced Manufacturing Zone says it was told chipping stops at the end of October, with 12–15 jobs at stake, and a haulage contractor has been told there will be no log deliveries after October. CEO Anthony McKenna denies Midway is leaving Tasmania and says the site will be reassessed after a vessel loads in November; the state government is examining grants or concessional finance, while TasPorts is spending ~A$32M on a new Bell Bay ship loader (Wood Central)
Leaked Sept. 10 B.C. cabinet briefing notes show draft legislation that would limit compensation to forest licensees when Crown land is transferred to First Nations — no compensation at all if a transfer affects under 5% of a licence's annual allowable cut — to ease ~400 parcels of "land returns." Premier David Eby says the aim is minimizing the cost to taxpayers; COFI president Kim Haakstad says industry was not consulted and is being asked to absorb costs government should pay. The provincial election is Oct. 24 (Canadian Press via Energeticcity, CHEK)
Update: Timberlink Australia has joined The Precinct Portland (Victoria) as an industry partner alongside Australian Bluegum Plantations, OneFortyOne, Raute and WTIBeam, and founder Tim Woods becomes CEO. Stage one is a GLT line, sawmill and log yard at more than A$200M with ~70 permanent jobs; LVL production is a possible later stage (Timberbiz)
Ottawa's October wildfire-season update: ~5,400 fires burned ~4.5M ha in 2026, more than a third of it in the Northwest Territories, with 33,750+ people evacuated; the new C$316.7M/five-year national aerial surge fleet (10 leased aircraft via CIFFC) flew 2,120+ hours and made 14,400+ water and retardant drops across nine provinces and territories (Government of Canada)
New Zealand's Tasman District Council has sold the 955-ha Howard Forest to Ingka Investments (IKEA's parent) and the adjoining Porika Block to a local family for a combined NZ$6.085M, moving the proceeds into a diversified resilience fund to reduce its forestry exposure (Timberbiz)
