Smurfit Westrock's Q3 net sales rose 2% to $8,161M but adjusted EBITDA fell 7% to $1,205M (14.8% margin) and net income to $219M, with North America at $760M (15.6% margin) and described as "sold out in all containerboard grades," EMEA/APAC at $379M and LatAm at $126M; the company expects to absorb ~$700M of extra freight and energy costs in 2026, now guides full-year adjusted EBITDA to ~$4.7B, says price increases will fully offset costs only in 2027, and declared a $0.4523 quarterly dividend (Smurfit Westrock via StockTitan)
UPM's Q3 comparable EBIT fell 8% to €131M on sales of €2.2B (-1%) as European customers destocked, though operating cash flow nearly doubled to €420M; Kaukas pulp mill was curtailed for eight weeks in Q3 and a five-week Pietarsaari curtailment is planned for Q4, H2 comparable EBIT is guided to €375–575M, Leuna's integrated production is pushed to Q2 2027, and WISA Group plywood shares start trading in November (Lesprom, UPM/PR Newswire)
Clearwater Paper's Q3 adjusted EBITDA rose 33% to $24M on net sales of $385M (vs $399M) and the net loss narrowed to $2M; average paperboard price fell 4% y/y to $1,111/t but rose $34/t q/q on SBS price increases, a significant late-quarter operational disruption at Augusta continued into October (largely offset by rep-and-warranty insurance settlements), and net debt fell to $261M (Lesprom)
Update: Mercer says its Rosenthal pulp mill in Germany is in start-up and ramping up after several weeks of downtime, and the company has scheduled Q3 results for Nov. 5 after market close with a call Nov. 6 (EUWID, GlobeNewswire)
Europe's paper and board recycling rate held at 76.4% in 2025 (53.9M t recycled against 70.5M t consumed, both down slightly), with paper packaging at 86.6%, according to the European Paper Recycling Council (PULPAPERnews)
Forestry & Timber
Canfor Southern Pine will invest ~US$96M to modernize its Iron Mountain sawmill in El Dorado, Ark., more than doubling annual output to ~220 MMBF and adding ~75 jobs (to ~150 direct employees); the planer upgrade was finished in Q2 2025, a transload facility serving Iron Mountain and the Urbana sawmill was built earlier this year, and the sawmill and log-yard phase is due to complete in Q4 2026 (Canfor via Yahoo Finance, Lesprom)
Update: COFI has congratulated B.C. premier-designate Lorne Doerkson and asked the incoming government to raise the sustainable harvest toward 45M m³, accelerate permitting, cut operating costs, secure predictable fibre access and lead a whole-of-government response, with "meaningful progress" in its first 90 days (Canadian Biomass)
Victoria's Liberal-National Coalition pledged to ecologically thin 5,000 ha of degraded public forest a year, build 1,000 km of firebreaks and double planned burning if it wins next month's state election, estimating 100,000–200,000 t/yr of timber for mills and firewood; the Victorian Forest Products Association welcomed it, while forester Garry Squires doubts much sawlog will result and expects environmental-law challenges (Wood Central)
B.C.'s publicly owned Valemount Specialty Mill has paused sawing for about two months after cutting its last logs Oct. 8 — its hemlock stands sit on wet ground that crews can only reach once it freezes, likely in December (Lesprom)
UFP Industries will buy Apache Products (Acme Skid), a Silsbee, Texas pallet maker with ~$55M in sales and 165 employees, for ~$27M including real estate, adding it to UFP Packaging's PalletOne network with closing expected around Nov. 16 (Lesprom)
China's wood-processing industry profits fell 41.6% y/y to 6.86B yuan in January–September, against a 15.5% rise for all industrial enterprises (Lesprom)
Swedish sawmill results keep diverging from the Södra loss reported last week: Setra narrowed its Q3 operating loss to SEK 12M (from SEK 148M) on lower timber prices, efficiency gains and currency, and forest owners' association Mellanskog swung to a SEK 7M Q3 operating profit (SEK 21M group, on SEK 2.29B revenue) as storm-felled timber lifted volumes (Lesprom, Lesprom)
Wood Pellets & Biomass
Te Ara Hiko, preferred buyer of Winstone Pulp International's closed Karioi pulp mill in New Zealand's central North Island, is before an independent consent panel with plans for a 180,000 t/yr biocoal (torrefied pellet) plant that would reuse the mill's log yard, debarker and chipping lines, take ~500,000 t/yr of radiata pulp logs and sawmill residues (a proposed condition limits feedstock to virgin forest material), displace ~400,000 t/yr of CO₂ and supply power stations and factories at home and abroad; trial material was tested in Austria with Andritz, one of its two technology suppliers, and WPI must answer the panel's questions by the Monday after next (Wood Central)
EIA's July data: U.S. producers made ~960,000 t of densified biomass fuel (813,212 t utility, 150,599 t heating pellets) and sold ~1M t, with 880,690 t exported at $210.91/t and 118,525 t sold domestically at $243.39/t; utility pellet inventories fell to 365,403 t from 503,736 t in June, across 74 surveyed producers and 13.1M t of U.S. capacity (Biomass Magazine, BioEnergy Times)
Welsh wood chip and pellet supplier PBE Fuels (14 staff, Canaston Bridge, Pembrokeshire) won planning approval for two new sheds at New House Farm to dry and store wood chip, sawdust, pellets and wet wood, easing a storage and drying shortage (Bioenergy Insight)
Industry Technology Vendors
Valmet — Q3 orders jumped 30% to €1,408M (25% organic) after organic declines in Q1 and Q2, net sales rose 5% to €1,360M and comparable EBITA hit a record €169M (12.4%); Biomaterial Solutions & Services orders rose 37% to €1,009M including €552M of capital orders with major wins in China and Asia-Pacific and services up 12% organically, Process Performance Solutions (automation) orders rose 16% to €399M, 2026 guidance is unchanged, the review of a possible split into two listed companies continues (€10M of Q4 costs), and shares rose ~8% with DNB Carnegie lifting its target to €38 (Valmet via Inderes, Investing.com)
Andritz — Named as one of two Austrian technology suppliers for Te Ara Hiko's proposed 180,000 t/yr biocoal plant at the former Karioi pulp mill, where trial feedstock was tested in Austria (Wood Central)
