Mercer International Inc. reports first quarter 2022 results

In PakoPharm®, Koehler Paper has a specialty paper in its range, which is exclusively used as package inserts for medications and cosmetics or as instructions for use. Low paper weight and good readability are particularly important for these applications. Koehler’s PakoPharm® thin printing paper meets both of these requirements. This specialty paper with a grammage of 37 gsm to 60 gsm is ideally suited for printing and further processing on both sides, so even the smallest characters can be read with no problem. Thanks to its excellent running properties and printability in printing and folding machines, PakoPharm® is also perfect for challenging print jobs. As a leading developer and manufacturer of reel fed folding machines, GUK values outstanding quality, innovation and sustainable responsibility. With more than 70 years’ experience, the company develops and produces complex high capacity folding machines. Over 65,000 folding machines have been sold bearing the name GUK as a quality seal. The company account for approx. 70% of the worldwide demand for reel fed folding machines. “Whenever we build a new machine for package inserts for someone, wherever they are in the world, we prefer to test with PakoPharm®. That way we know that it works,” says Sebastian Faulhaber, Corporate Development and Marketing at GUK.

Paper Excellence provided an update on skilled labour shortages in British Columbia that are impacting the company’s ability to execute many of its planned shutdowns on time. The company has been dealing with delays due to shortages of skilled pressure vessel welders at its Crofton facility which will impact the length of the shutdown resulting in incremental lost pulp production due to the delays. The company is concerned that similar shortages will impact upcoming shutdowns at Howe Sound and Skookumchuck. The company currently expects a loss of about 10,000 tonnes of NBSK pulp production in total across all three sites. Paper Excellence remains committed to its customers and can supply pulp products from its other unaffected mills during these delays.

News of the sale of the Ohio-based company Verso could have major implications on Wisconsin's paper and timber industries. But the Swedish company that's buying it hasn't clarified its plans for the shuttered Wisconsin Rapids mill. The Rapids mill employed 900 workers and served as the upper Midwest's largest buyer of Wisconsin forest products until the company took the mill idle in July 2020. The closure has had lasting effects on the city, and on industries that relied on the mill — especially logging. The packaging company BillerudKorsnäs AB announced Sunday it would acquire Verso Corp. In statements and in a press conference, executives for the company announced a $1 billion, nearly decade-long plan to convert and upgrade the mill in Escanaba, Michigan, into a producer of sustainably made paperboard. They also discussed plans to maintain operations at Verso's mill in Quinnesec, Michigan. Conspicuously absent from either company's statements, though, was significant discussion of Wisconsin Rapids.