The continued upward pricing cycle for pulp has recently intensified due to the unfortunate events in Chile which has led some pulp suppliers to suspend deliveries under force majeure. This is compounded by strikes at some transportation companies and ports in Finland together with severe weather conditions in Scandinavia. This has resulted in an extraordinary situation concerning both the availability and subsequent costs of this key raw material.

M-real has announced price increases for all uncoated paper products in reels, cut sizes and folio sheets across all European business by 8% as of 1 March.

In addition, a further increase in paper prices of 15% will become effective as of 15 April 2010 to be applied to all uncoated paper products in reels, large formats and cut sizes.

Further information:

Marcel Bigler
Head of Sales & Marketing, M-real Office Papers business area
Tel + 31 (0) 20 572 7550

Helga Disimimo
Head of Sales & Marketing, M-real Speciality Papers business area
Mob. + 49 172 293 0992

The Paper Industry Gold Medal Association is pleased to announce that the Gold Medal for 2010 has been awarded to Michael Clark.

The Award Committee met on the 25th January at Stationers' Hall under the independent chairmanship of the current Master of the Stationers' Company, Mr Richard Brewster.

The medal will be presented to Michael at the Charter Dinner of the Stationers' Company on 5th May 2010.

Michael retired from full time employment with M-Real in 2008, but remained active in retirement as Chairman of PEFC (Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification Schemes) until December 2009.

The award recognises Michael's contribution to the wider industry over many years. Although primarily concerned with the cartonboard market, Michael recognised that the industry needed to present a united front when faced with wider issues such as the introduction of Packaging Waste Regulations, the poor perception of the industry by NGOs and the wider public, or the need to embrace environmental issues such as forest certification proactively and whole-heartedly.

His contributions to PIMO (Paper Industry Materials Organisation), the CPI (Confederation of Paper Industries), ProCarton, and PEFC have been positive and constructive. At the same time he was active within the PAA (Paper Agents Association) where he served on Council for a number of years and completed a two year term as President. He continued to support the Association's Environmental Committee after his retirement from M-Real.
In nominating him, the PAA said "The Paper Agents Association believes that Michael's commitment to the establishment of meaningful industry bodies and fair representation for all branches of the industry in its relationships with Government, the EU and NGOs uniquely qualify him for consideration as a recipient of the Gold Medal."

For more info contact

www.papergoldmedal.org.uk or e-mail the Hon. Secretary at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Metso Corporation has been informed by BlackRock Investment Management (UK) Limited about a change in the holding of the mutual funds managed by BlackRock, Inc. of the total amount of shares and votes of Metso Corporation.

On February 24, 2010 BlackRock, Inc. (USA Tax ID 32-0174421, SEC CIK Code#: 0001364742) holding in shares of Metso Corporation exceeded the 5 percent threshold. The holding amounted to 7,563,054 shares, which corresponds to 5.03 percent of the total amount of shares and votes in Metso Corporation.

Metso is a global supplier of sustainable technology and services for mining, construction, power generation, automation, recycling and the pulp and paper industries. We have about 27,000 employees in more than 50 countries. www.metso.com

For further information, please contact:
Marja Kortesalo, Investor Relations Manager, Metso Corporation, tel. +358 20 484 3211.

DS Smith Plc, the international packaging manufacturer and office products wholesaler, today publishes its Interim Management Statement, in respect of the period since 1 November 2009.

DS Smith Group
As discussed in our previous statements, the Group's results have been underpinned by the actions taken to cut costs, raise productivity and generate cash. In the third quarter of financial year 2009/10, trading has been ahead of management's expectations at the time of the Group's interim results announcement in December 2009. Primarily this reflects better
sales than previously anticipated, across both Packaging and Office Products Wholesaling. There has been no significant change to the financial position of the Group since the publication of the results for the six months to 31 October 2009. Cash flow generation remains strong.

Packaging
As reported in our December 2009 statement, demand for corrugated packaging in the European market continues to recover, although it is still below the level at this time in 2007. Our corrugated case material (CCM) price increases of September and October 2009 were implemented as expected and we are continuing the programme of increasing box prices. Combined, these actions are progressively allowing us to recover the significantly higher input costs incurred in the second half of the last calendar year. The cost of our key raw material, waste paper has continued to move up and we have advised our customers of a further increase in CCM prices.

Plastic Packaging has continued to display the recovery in profits noted in the first half; benefiting from restructuring, cost cutting and sales into new markets.

Office Products Wholesaling
As previously advised demand for office products across our markets is substantially affected by the slowdown in the European economy. Against this background, Spicer's sales performance continues to be good. The actions taken in the UK business are improving its performance and this is starting to come through in the results. Outside of the UK the
combined profits are in line with last year.

Outlook
We continue to be faced by both the uncertainty surrounding the strength of the economic recovery and the need to recover rising input costs. Nevertheless, business performance remains encouraging and management is confident of meeting its expectations for the year to April 2010.

To Download the offical release: click here....>

Stora Enso expects to begin temporarily shutting down its Finnish mills in the near future due to the strike by the stevedores at Finnish ports.

The impact of the strike on Stora Enso's financial results is estimated to be approximately EUR 2.5 million per day.

"The impact of the strike will be wide and indefinite. The strike will severely tarnish the reputation of the Finnish forest products industry and its whole value chain," says Juha Vanhainen, Stora Enso Country Manager Finland.

For further information, please contact:
Juha Vanhainen, Country Manager Finland, tel. +358 2046 21343
Ulla Paajanen-Sainio, Head of Investor Relations, tel. +358 2046 21242
Lauri Peltola, Head of Communications, tel. +358 2046 21380
Päivi Kauhanen, Director, Communications Finland, tel. +358 2046 21292

With the delivery of two fuel-cell trucks to the Linde Gases Division, part of technology company The Linde Group, Linde Material Handling has taken another important step on the road to more intensive use of innovative drive technology. As the first industrial truck manufacturer in Europe, Linde MH has incorporated fuel cell trucks into its product range. The trucks are now offered as standard and with immediate effect, as a "Customised Option".

Both fuel-cell trucks are based on the 3-tonne electric counterbalanced truck, the Linde E30. In addition, the enhanced beverage industry version offers an optimised view over the load. In place of the usual 80-volt battery, the trucks have a fuel cell and a tank, which stores 1.6 kilograms of hydrogen gas at 350 bar. The electricity generated from the hydrogen supplies the electric motors that drive the truck. Alongside this are so-called supercaps, large condensers, which act as a buffer and cover performance peaks, such as pulling away or lifting, for example. The trucks bear the CE mark and are permitted for use on public roads. When it comes to performance data, the trucks are not different to the equivalent battery-powered model in the range and they are tailored specially to Linde Gas' customer requirements.

The fuel-cell trucks were developed over the last two years with long-term partner, Hydrogenics, the Canadian fuel cell manufacturer. Linde's contractual partner, Gruma Nutzfahrzeuge, based in Garching, near Munich, has been involved with the project from the beginning and is responsible for all issues related to servicing and maintaining the trucks. One of the trucks is used by Linde Gas for transporting Gas bottles between production halls and the truck embark point, which involves crossing a public road. The second fuel-cell truck operates in the field of gas bottle filling. Both trucks replace diesel trucks with a
3.5-tonne load capacity, which were previously used for this purpose. Filling up the fuel-cell trucks is quick and safe at the Linde hydrogen centre filling pump and is therefore comparable to filling a conventional truck.

The benefit of the fuel-cell drive for Linde Gas is the "zero emissions" that these trucks produce when used. The only waste product from the splitting of hydrogen molecules is pure water. Another benefit of fuel cells, in comparison to other drive concepts, is that there is no longer a requirement for battery replacement or a battery charging process lasting a number of hours. In the same way, the safety risks relating to the use of battery acid are removed. In order to be able to use the trucks, drivers only require an extra hour and a half driving lesson, along with a valid forklift licence for the advanced trucks.

(UPM, Helsinki, 3 March 2010 at 09:30 EET) – The Finnish Transport Workers' Union strike which started on Tuesday, 2 March 2010, will stop transportation of raw materials to UPM's Finnish mills and seriously impede the transportation of products from mills to its customers. The strike will have an immediate impact on the operations of all UPM mills in Finland. If the strike will expand to cover the stevedores of the Finnish ports, this will in effect shut down all of UPM's paper machines in Finland within a few days. The financial impact of the strike in UPM's result is estimated to exceed EUR 3 million a day.

UPM will commence paper mill shut downs in Finland as soon as operations are no longer possible due to the lack of raw material and paper storage. In line with the Finnish Contracts of Employment Act UPM will suspend salary payment 7 days after the end of paper machine production work.

UPM aims to deliver its customer orders from its mills located in other countries. Nearly half of UPM's paper production capacity is located in Finland.

For more information, please contact:
Hans Sohlström, UPM, Executive Vice President, Corporate Relations and Development, tel. +358 2041 50542

CEPI – the Confederation of European Paper industries - has expanded its offer on statistics packages. Next to a full set of 'Annual Statistics' from the European pulp and paper industry, which includes country data as well as production figures, CEPI now offers several new packages including a quarterly and even monthly package of statistics.

The packages can be combined in a very flexible way. Four different statistics packages are available, which were created to meet the needs of stakeholders from the pulp and paper industry.

Download the Full Press Release here....>

International technology Group ANDRITZ has signed a contract to acquire KMPT AG, headquartered in Vierkirchen, Germany, including its affiliates in England, France, Italy, China, and the United States.

The ANDRITZ ENVIRONMENT & PROCESS business area is thus strengthening its product offerings for solid/liquid separation. The acquired company has approximately 280 employees and generates annual sales of about 50 MEUR. It was agreed to not disclose the purchase price; the contract is subject to approval by the relevant authorities and is expected to come in force during the second quarter of 2010.

Download the Offical Press Release

Karl Ove Grönqvist, Rottneros Chief Financial Officer, has decided to leave the Group to take up a post as CFO of EuroMaint AB.

"Karl Ove Grönqvist has worked as the Group CFO for four years. We thank him warmly, especially for last year's substantial refinancing of the Group, and wish him every success in his new post", says Ole Terland, Rottneros CEO and President.

Our work to find a successor will start immediately.

For further information please contact: Ole Terland, +46 8 590 010 00

NB
This information is such that Rottneros must disclose in accordance with the Swedish Securities Markets Act and/or the Financial Instruments Trading Act. The information was submitted for publication on Thursday 25 February 2010 at 17.45 CET.

You can read the press release incl attachments here.