Georgia-Pacific Makes Approximately $2 Billion in Capital Improvements in 2023

The development programme for Metsä Board's white kraftliner mill in Kemi has been completed in parallel with Metsä Fibre's new bioproduct mill. Metsä Board and Metsä Fibre are part of Metsä Group. In addition to increasing the mill’s capacity by 40,000 tonnes per year, the development programme will reduce the mill's energy consumption by 5% and water consumption by around 40% per tonne produced. The Kemi paperboard mill is the world's largest producer of coated white top kraftliner and its products are used as a surface material for corrugated packaging worldwide. The development programme will increase Kemi’s annual production capacity of white kraftliners to 465,000 tonnes, with the majority being sold in Europe and North America.

The American Forest & Paper Association has released its Q4 2022 Containerboard Quarterly report. According to the report, total U.S. containerboard production decreased 5% when compared to the full year of 2021. Most containerboard grades experienced double-digit percentage declines in Q4. Drops in both domestic and export production contributed to operating rates in the 80s and in some cases the high 70s, bringing the 2022 operating rate five points below that of 2021. Recycled Medium was the only subgrade that had a single-digit percentage drop (-9%) and an increase in export production for the quarter, though exports represent a very small portion of its total production.

In 2021, the global consumption of paper cups reached more than 244.7 billion units. Most of them still have a non-recyclable plastic lid on. Finnish entrepreneur Matti Salonoja wanted to create an option for plastic. Stora Enso Cupforma Natura Aqua+ gave a great base for the groundbreaking solution. Matti Salonoja ended up making paper lids partly by chance. In 2008, he and his friend thought about having a business and ended up importing branded paper cups to Finland. When his friend left the company after a couple of years, Salonoja started selling cups full-time, and in 2014 he decided to get a cardboard cup machine himself. Back then, the coating on the paper cups prevented them from being recycled. During 2015, however, several cardboard manufacturers started to develop an alternative to plastic used in cups, made of water-based coated cardboard.