WestRock May Later Resume Production at Newberg Mill

 

According to a report this week by The Oregonian, Portland, Ore.,  USA, SP Fiber Technologies of Newberg, Ore.,  will close "indefinitely" in mid-November, endangering about 200 jobs. Mill owner WestRock (Richmond, Vir., USA) told Newberg employees its plan this past Thursday, two weeks after it announced it had purchased the Yamhill County mill along with other SP Fiber assets.

WestRock is cutting back as the demand for many paper products declines, inventories remain high, and export demand declines in part because of the strength of the dollar, industry observers say.

Last week, WestRock confirmed it is closing a corrugated medium mill in Coshocton, Ohio, by the end of November, eliminating jobs for 180 hourly workers and 45 salaried employees. And earlier this month, WestRock officials said the paper mill in Uncasville, Conn., would be "indefinitely idled" and another mill, in Fernandina Beach, Fla., would have one of its paper machines shut down.

In all, six machines at the four mills with capacity to produce 1.15 million tpy of containerboard and 220,000 tpy of newsprint are affected.

Meanwhile, an analysis of the shutdowns by KeyBanc Capital Markets published Monday said WestRock "is reportedly planning to restart the Newberg mill after some capital investments and changes in grade mix." The analysis cited the industry publication RISI for its information. Neither WestRock spokesman Tucker McNeil nor Bill Martello, area representative for the Association of Western Pulp and Paper Workers, Local 60, would comment on the analysis.

WestRock, the Newberg mill's owner of two weeks, was formed this summer with the merger of Richmond-based MeadWestvaco Corp. and Georgia-based Rock-Tenn Co. The combined company has about 42,000 employees and had about $15.7 billion in sales last year, second in the paper and packaging industry to International Paper Co.

WestRock announced October 1 it was buying SP Fiber Holdings Inc. of Greenwich, Conn., for $288.5 million, a deal that included the Newberg mill, an SP paper mill in Dublin, Ga., and a 48 percent interest in Green Power Solutions, which supplies electricity to Georgia Power and steam to SP's Dublin mill.