Australia’s white paper industry is dead, leaving rural communities to pick through the pulp (theguardian.com)

Lecta announces, with immediate effect, a price increase of up to 15% for new orders of thermal and carbonless papers. The price increase is unavoidable to offset the continuous increase in manufacturing and transport costs. Lecta sales teams are at our customers’ disposal to provide specific information on how the price increase will be applied by product on a country by country basis.

January–December 2022 compared with January–December 2021 *The carrying amount of SCA’s forest assets increased to SEK 97.9bn (84.5) as of December 31, 2022 due to continued increase in transaction prices for forest assets in Northern Sweden. *Net sales increased 10% to SEK 20,794m (18,822), which mainly related to higher selling prices in containerboard and pulp. *EBITDA increased 12% to SEK 10,194m (9,109). The increase was mainly attributable to higher selling prices. Cost increases were largely offset through control over SCA’s own value chain with a high degree of self-sufficiency in wood, energy, and logistics. EBITDA margin was 49.0% (48.4). *Operating profit increased to SEK 8,642m (7,634). *Operating cash flow was SEK 5,685m (5,216) and fully financed ongoing strategic capital expenditures.

The Company reported an operating loss of $5.6 million for the second quarter of 2024, compared to an operating loss of $15.7 million for the first quarter of 2024. These results largely reflected an uplift in global pulp pricing, primarily in response to global pulp supply disruptions, and the correlated improvement in the Company’s average Northern Bleached Softwood Kraft (“NBSK”) pulp sales unit realizations. These factors were offset in part, however, by a decline in the Company’s pulp production and shipments quarter-over-quarter, driven by extended downtime at its Intercontinental NBSK pulp mill (“Intercon”) to address unforeseen recovery boiler repairs identified during the scheduled maintenance in May. In May 2024, the Company announced the decision to indefinitely curtail one production line at its Northwood NBSK pulp mill (“Northwood”) as a result of the continual decline in the availability of economic fibre in the northern British Columbia (“BC”) region.