WHAT’S NEW News shorts from the pulp aNd paper world Corporate strateGY temporary production stops at swedish mills due to electricity issues There was a spate of short production halts at pulp and paper mills across Sweden in early Jan., caused by the frigid temperatures that hit Europe. The cold weather has led to increased electricity consumption, which has driven up the spot price for electricity and put pressure on the national grid. On the morning of Jan. 12, electricity consumption in Sweden was on its way to exceeding the maximum levels allowed. Svenska Kraftnät, the Swedish state utility that administers and runs the national grid, asked Stora Enso to decrease its electricity consumption by a third in order to avoid this. Other paper producers in Sweden have also felt the effects of the higher spot price. Holmen, which purchases part of its electricity from the spot market, made the decision to adjust production at its Braviken and Hallsta mills. On Jan. 8, it halted pulp production at Braviken for a few hours in the morning. On Jan. 11 it decreased pulp and paper production by approximately 10% at both mills. SCA curtailed 10-12% of its production on Jan. 8, mainly at the Ortviken plant as it consumes the most electricity of the company’s mills. At the start of week, production had again been decreased by some 10%. According to reports in the Swedish press, Rottneros stopped one of two production lines at its Rottneros Bruk mill on Jan. 7-8.
India’s Kohinoor postpones launch of greenfield mill again The startup of Kohinoor Paper & Newsprint’s greenfield graphic paper facility has been delayed again. It is now expected to begin operations in February. The printing/writing paper and newsprint plant was scheduled to start trial runs in November last year, after being pushed back from August.
Ip and fibria extend option for second pm at tres lagoas mill in Brazil International Paper and Fibria (formerly Votorantim Celulose e Papel) have agreed to extend IP’s option to build a second uncoated freesheet paper machine at the Tres Lagoas mill site. This option, which would have expired on Jan. 31, 2010, has been extended until Jan. 31, 2013. In 2006, IP entered into a 90-year agreement in which Fibria agreed to furnish pulp and certain utilities to IP’s co-located paper mill for the production of up to 250,000 tons/yr of paper. The agreement also granted IP the option to build a second paper machine and to be provided with certain utilities and pulp to produce up to an incremental 250,000 tons/yr of paper.
Corporate strateGY
Nippon paper and Jpp to pull out
of Chinese jv
The Chinese containerboard producer
Zhejiang Jingxing Paper has agreed to
take over a 49% stake in Zhejiang
Jingxing Nippon Paper jointly
owned by two Japanese compa-
nies, Nippon Paper Industries
(NPI) and Japan Pulp & Paper
(JPP).
The jv operates a
150,000-tonne/yr recycled flut-
ing machine at Zhejiang Jinxing
Paper’s mill in Pinghu. The jv has
suffered losses and financing dif-
ficulties over the past few years, and
the two Japanese firms eventually de-
cided to pull out. NPI and JPP have agreed
to hand over their shares to their Chinese
partner for nothing.
Stora Enso has resumed production
at its Sunila softwood pulp mill in
The 375,000-tonne/yr plant was
restarted last month, after
having been offline since April.
Early last year Stora Enso
announced it would be closed
permanently in the second
quarter of 2010. But the firm
is now reassessing whether
to shut the mill sometime this
year or extend its lifespan.
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