Volume 3, Number 5
Nov 1990

Company News

• Howard Paper Mills, according to the Dayton Daily News for July 29, has prospered since it began emphasizing the production of recycled paper in 1989. It is the only paper company in the country offering a full line of 50%, recycled paper for printing and writing. Presumably this also includes Permalife, the popular archival paper formulated by William J. Barrow and originally produced by Standard Paper Company.
• James River Corp. will be selling or closing 18 paper mills in this country and England in a major restructuring announced in September. Six of those mills are U.S. fine paper, or fine-and-specialty paper, mills. Two have already converted to alkaline (West Linn, OR, and Groveton, NH), and one (Goreham, NH) plans to convert next year. An investment firm will buy the specialty paper mills. Simpson Paper Co. will buy the West Linn mill. For details see the October issue of Pulp & Paper.
• Boise Cascade has found a buyer for its Vancouver, WA, mill: Appleton Papers Inc. Appleton, the largest producer of carbonless paper in the U.S. if not the world, will use its own technology, which is alkaline. For the story of how the Vancouver mill converted to alkaline just a year ago, see Bob Hieronymous's article on p. 42 in the October issue of this newsletter.
• The business climate for the paper industry in the U.S. and especially in Canada is bad. Pulp prices are up, paper prices are down, and business is slow. Some companies are losing money, some are making smaller profits. Domtar cut its dividends in half, Repap Enterprises has drastically cut its capital spending, and Rolland Inc. has closed one null and sold a half-interest in another. This is expected to cut the rate of conversions to alkaline papermaking, since it can be quite expensive, depending on how long it takes and how extensive the modifications to the plant have to be.
• It took 25 banks to lend Georgia Pacific the $4 billion it needed to complete its acquisition of Great Northern Nekoosa Corp.