This page contains pulp and paper industry news for September 2009

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NEWS SEPTEMBER 2009

Merger of Aracruz and Votorantim Creates Fibria

Sept. 1, 2009 - Aracruz Celulose said that as a result of its merger with Votorantim Celulose e Papel, the combined companies have taken on a new identity and will now be known as Fibria.

The new company has named Carlos Aguiar as CEO and Jose Luciano Penido as chairman.

Fibria has a production capacity exceeding 6 million tonnes of pulp and paper per year, and approx. 15,000 employees in 7 mills and 5 sales offices. About 90% of the company's pulp is produced for export.

Fibria estimates its annual net revenue at R$ 6 billion, considering the combined results of both original companies in the last 12 months ended in June 2009.

Sonoco to Close Orrville, Ohio, Rigid Paper Packaging Plant

HARTSVILLE, S.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sep. 10, 2009-- Sonoco (NYSE: SON), one of the largest diversified global packaging companies, today announced that it will close its Orrville, Ohio, rigid paper packaging plant by March 2010.

The Orrville operation, located at 425 Collins Blvd., currently employs 84 employees and manufactures fiber cartridges for adhesives and sealants. Sonoco acquired the plant in 2007 when it acquired the fiber containers and industrial plastic carriers assets of Caraustar Industries, Inc. The first phase of the plant’s shutdown is expected to begin in late November and result in the reduction of approximately half the workforce. The plant will remain in partial operation until it is closed in March 2010. Sonoco will provide severance and outplacement assistance to employees.

Howard Coker, Sonoco’s vice president, Rigid Paper and Closures, said the Company has been facing significant reductions in customer orders over the past year as a result of the nationwide recession’s impact on the housing market. Coker said that Sonoco will consolidate customer orders in the Company’s other rigid paper packaging operations in the Ohio area.

“Closing a plant is always difficult because of the impact on employees and the community,” Coker said. “But the dramatic downturn in home construction is impacting the use of adhesives and sealants which have reduced orders by our customers by about 25 percent. We have implemented some capacity reductions, but we simply cannot continue to operate the Orrville plant at such reduced levels.”

About Sonoco

Sonoco, founded in 1899, is a global manufacturer of consumer and industrial packaging products and provider of packaging services, with more than 300 operations in 35 countries serving customers in some 85 nations. For more information on Sonoco, visit our Web site at http://www.sonoco.com.

Delipapier Plans to Build New Tissue Mill in France

Sept. 15, 2009 - Delipapier, the French subsidiary of Italian tissue manufacturer Sofidel, plans to build a new tissue mill in Ingrandes in the Vienne department in France.

The new plant reportedly is a EUR 120 million ($175 million) project.

According to a news story from EUWID, Sofidel plans to complete the first phase of the project — a converting facility — by mid-2011.

U.S. Coated Paper Industry Files Antidumping Petitions

Sept. 23, 2009 (Press Release) - Appleton Coated LLC, NewPage Corporation, Sappi Fine Paper North America, and the United Steelworkers of America (USW) announced today that they have filed antidumping and countervailing duty petitions covering imports of certain coated paper from the People's Republic of China and Indonesia.

The industry seeks to have the U.S. Department of Commerce and the U.S. International Trade Commission, the agencies responsible for investigating unfair trade practices, impose duties to offset Chinese and Indonesian government subsidization and dumping. The paper products covered by the petitions include coated paper used in high-quality writing, printing, and other graphic applications using sheet-fed presses, whether in finished sheet form or in semi-finished roll form, with a GE brightness rating of 80 or higher.

Under the antidumping and countervailing duty statutes, the International Trade Commission is expected to make a preliminary injury determination in November 2009 and the Department of Commerce is expected to issue preliminary determinations in the countervailing duty and antidumping duty cases in December 2009 and March 2010, respectively.

Stora Enso to restart production at Enocell Pulp Mill

STORA ENSO OYJ PRESS RELEASE 28 September 2009 at 06.00 GMT

Stora Enso is restarting production at Enocell Pulp Mill in Finland.

The restart is supported by the improvement in the market situation since the beginning of the summer. However, the market situation remains very challenging. The objective in the short and long term is to improve competitive business conditions for Enocell Pulp Mill to secure its economic viability.

Enocell Pulp Mill at Uimaharju in eastern Finland has been temporarily shut down since the end of March 2009. Production at the mill is scheduled to resume at the beginning of November 2009.