Catalyst Crofton Mill Declared Indefinite Curtailment of Paper Operations

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): Paper Excellence announced that it has decided to indefinitely curtail paper operations at the Catalyst Crofton mill. The curtailment will be in effect from early-December this year. Meantime, the pulp operations at the mill will continue unaffected during this period.

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The decision is mainly on account of two important reasons, noted the company press release. Firstly, paper markets in China, which happens to be the major market for the mill paper products, have been witnessing significant weakness over the past several months. Also, the prices of raw materials such as chemicals and wood fibre, along with energy costs have escalated. These have resulted in material impact to the financial viability of the paper operations at the Crofton mill.

The company announced that a total of 150 workers will be impacted by the decision- 80 belonging to Unifor and the remaining to the PPWC union. It will work closely with the unions so as to minimize the impacts on affected employees. It admitted that the decision would certainly have impacts on its employees as well as the Cowichan Valley. The company will continue to service its customers through its Port Alberni mill.

Paper Excellence plans to convert the Crofton facility into natural food and packaging grades, for which studies are in progress.