A paper mill in Canada owned by UPM Kymmene -- the corporation that owns the Blandin mill in Grand Rapids -- will be closed in August for up to a year, the company announced Tuesday.
How the shutdown of the 495,000-ton capacity Miramichi mill will affect Blandin's short-term production is uncertain.
However, while saying hecouldn't say anything about production, Blandin's General Manager and Senior Vice President Joe Maher suggested that people could draw their own conclusions. "It's definitely the same marketplace," he said.
Miramichi, in New Brunswick, Canada, is being closed because "despite best efforts, Miramichi has not been able to turn its exports to the U.S. profitable," a company statement said. The strong Canadian dollar and the decreasing market prices for coated magazine paper also have hurt the mill, the statement said.
UPM, which is based in Finland, announced July 1, 2004, that it would conduct a feasibility study at Blandin to investigate building a new paper machine that would expand the mill's paper production to 760,000 tons per year from 380,000 tons.
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Blandin employs about 500 workers and the expansion would add 23, according to state documents.
The company has conducted a feasibility study and secured all necessary permits. A decision is in the hands of the corporation's board of directors, Maher said.
The $800 million project would include a new paper machine, increased pulp-producing capacity, improvements to the No. 6 paper line and a new warehouse. The mill's No. 5 paper line would be permanently shut down.
With the closing of Miramichi, the only other UPM mill that makes lightweight coated paper in North America, the expansion question might not be on the front burner. "If you look at the reduction of capacity, why would we be talking about it [an expansion]?" Maher said.
"The board doesn't have to give us an answer," he said.
A UPM corporate spokeswoman did not return a message from the News Tribune on Tuesday.
