Nippon Paper Subsidiary Kitakami Paper to Cease Operations

Nippon Paper Industries Co., Japan, announced this week that its consolidated subsidiary, Kitakami Paper Co. in Japan, has decided at the meeting of the board of directors held this week that it will withdraw from all of its businesses on July 31, 2018.

Kitakami Paper, as a paper company of local production for local consumption, has been providing newsprint and linerboard and corrugated medium and other grades, primarily to the Tohoku district since its establishment in 1948. In recent years, Kitakami Paper had been focusing on the development and sales expansion of products that contribute to the resource recycling, in particular, despite ongoing challenges in the operating environment caused by rises in prices for raw materials and fuel, including wastepaper. 

Under the circumstances, Kitakami Paper had also been promoting thorough cost reductions as well as price revisions for products. However, with improvements in profitability and the consistent generation of profits unlikely to occur, going forward, it has decided to terminate production and sales, and withdraw from all of its businesses.

Going forward, Kitakami Paper is considering dissolution and liquidation, although a fixed schedule has yet to be decided. The impact of the loss on business withdrawal on the Group’s financial results is undergoing scrutiny and will be promptly announced if matters to be published occur.