ND Paper's Rumford, Maine mill produced the first roll on its R12 paper machine on Nov. 5 after the machine sat idle for more than two years; the company has not said what grade it ran or whether R12 will formally restart (mill: ~530 employees, three machines) (PaperAge)
Update: Millar Western CEO Karl Meyers' letter puts Quesnel River Pulp at 375,000 adt/yr (owner Atlas Holdings), says the effluent system will keep running for 12 months under current contracts or until an alternative is found, and does not rule out a future restart (PULPAPERnews)
Update: DS Smith's new paper machine at the Lucca mill in Italy is expected to start up this month as the group restructures its European mill network ahead of the IP separation (EUWID)
Ahlstrom, with Solventum, developed Acti-V BIO, a controlled-bioburden release base paper for healthcare adhesive liners (wound care, transdermal patches, surgical tapes) (PULPAPERnews)
Forestry & Timber
Conifex produced no lumber in Q3 — sales fell to C$0.7M (Q2: C$23.0M), net loss C$7.9M — with the Mackenzie sawmill curtailed all quarter; the power plant resumed Nov. 10 and the mill is expected to restart around December subject to financing (C$10.2M of the LETL loan remains) and sawlog supply, but the company flags going-concern uncertainty and insufficient liquidity beyond December without those funds. Its AR7 duty rate fell to 24.75% from 35.16%, bringing a ~US$5.7M non-cash Q4 charge (GlobeNewswire, Fordaq)
GreenFirst posted a Q3 net loss of C$7.0M (Q2: C$5.5M profit) and adjusted EBITDA of –C$1.3M on sales of C$87.6M despite lumber realisations rising to C$850/Mfbm; the retroactive 24.75% AR7 rate (vs 10.41% accrued) means ~C$25.7M of extra duties plus C$4.5M interest in Q4 (Fordaq)
Koskisen opened change negotiations covering ~800 employees across its Finnish panel and sawn-timber businesses — up to 40 positions cut or changed plus possible temporary layoffs — to conclude by year-end; no line closures announced, and the Järvelä sawmill investment is nearing completion (Fordaq)
Update: The US Lumber Coalition says Budget 2026's C$6.5B lifts Canadian forestry subsidies since August 2025 above C$9B and calls it an attempt to offset US duties, while Canadian Press reporting notes none of the money flows before 2027-28 (PR Newswire, CFJC Today)
UFP Industries is acquiring pallet maker Apache, about six months after buying Berry Pallets, expanding its Packaging segment; terms undisclosed (EUWID)
China imported 897,561 m³ of oak logs in January–September (+22%), with France supplying 320,229 m³ (+31%) and the US 192,207 m³ (more than double), while French oak sawmills have shrunk to under 1,000 from ~5,000 in 2010 and stave demand is expected to fall ~40% this year (Fordaq)
Co-generation & Mill Energy
Metsä Fibre and Rauman Energia will recover waste heat from the Rauma pulp mill's recovery-boiler steam cycle (currently sent to cooling towers) for the city's district-heating network — testing starts early December, production use targeted for end-December, covering 10–20% of Rauman Energia's heat demand (Papnews)
Electric boilers are eroding energy-wood demand in Finland: Luke reports Q3 energy wood prices down 20–24% y/y in real terms (€12.42/m³ standing, €29.67/m³ delivered), electric boilers produced ~2.6 TWh of district heat in 2025 (1.5 TWh in 2024), and Helen's Hanasaari project adds 200 MW of electric boilers for the 2026–27 season (PULPAPERnews)
Industry Technology Vendors
ABB — Completed a drive-system modernization on PM2 at Gold East Paper's Dagang mill in Zhenjiang, China, replacing a 28-year-old system (8 rectifier sections, 60 ACS600 units) with ACS880 drives and an AC800M controller inside a six-day shutdown; PM2 runs 1,700 m/min at 9.77 m width (PULPAPERnews)
Vecoplan — Nine-month revenue fell 8.1% to €105.4M and EBITDA collapsed to €0.4M from €6.7M as order intake dropped 12.8% to €99.5M (backlog €43.8M), per parent MAX Automation (Fordaq)
