Ian(id62)

Ian(id62)

Russia has announced that it is freezing its timber export duties on their current level; the change took affect at the turn of the year and the freeze will remain in place until Russia joins the WTO.

It would have been necessary to implement lower duties much sooner, however.

“It would have been good if the lower duties, which were agreed to in negotiations between the EU and Russia last November, could have taken effect immediately at the beginning of 2011 instead of after about a year because this would have promoted the revival of our forest industry cooperation. Russia has considered forest industry investments important, but these cannot be implemented if export duties and other trade barriers that hamper activities are not removed as quickly as possible. Russia should also focus on the development of its infrastructure and boost confidence in the availability of wood raw material for decades to come,” says Timo Jaatinen, Director General of the Finnish Forest Industries Federation.

Hardwood duties reduced by three-thirds and softwood duties by half

Timber export duties will not be removed in their entirety once Russia joins the WTO, but the expectation is that they will not target the timber grades, which are imported by Finland, as heavily as has been the case up to now. The duties levied on hardwood will reduce by about three-thirds and softwood duties will be cut by about half.

The forest industry of Finland has adjusted its operations to reduced Russian timber imports and largely relies on domestic raw materials. How much imports recover depends on the cost of Russian timber as well as on the industry's export developments and the availability and cost of domestic timber.

Russian timber imports now only account for around 10% of total consumption

In 2009, Finland imported 6.1 million m3 of timber from Russia when measured using the barked volume. This is equivalent to 5.3 million m3 of de-barked timber. International trade volumes are measured using the de-barked amount, while Finnish statistics are compiled using the barked volume.

The forest industry of Finland consumed about 52 million m3 of wood in 2009. Imports from Russia totalled 5.3 million m3 in January-September 2010. Russian timber imports peaked at 17 million m3 in 2005 (14.8 million m3 using the de-barked volume).

Pulpwood accounted for the majority of Russian exports to Finland, as Russia does not commercially utilise birch pulpwood, for example, to any great extent. 

Further information:

Anu Islander, Senior Adviser (Forestry), Finnish Forest Industries Federation, tel. +358 9 132 6678, +358 40 729 3678

Source:Finnish Forest Industries Federation (FFIF)

Tembec has announced that its wholly owned subsidiary Tembec Tartas SAS will be making an investment in a green energy project at its specialty dissolving pulp mill located in Tartas, France. The project, which includes a new 18 megawatt steam turbine and improvements to the existing boiler system, will cost approximately 16 M€ (C $21 million). It is expected to be in operation during the second calendar quarter of 2012. Once the turbine is in full operation, the mill’s annual EBITDA should improve by 6 M€ (C $8 million).

The project will be funded in part by a 7.5 M€ loan (C $10 million) to be provided by a syndicate of French banks. The loan has a term of seven years at a rate of Euribor 3 months plus 2%.

With approximately 300,000 metric tonnes of capacity, Tembec is among the global leaders in the specialty dissolving pulp business. Tembec’s specialty cellulose division (Cellutions) is a leading producer of dissolving pulp for the cellulose derivatives market that includes Cellulose Acetate, Cellulose MCC, Cellulose Ethers and Nitrocellulose.

“Tembec’s specialty dissolving business has been and will remain one of the Company’s core businesses. The Tartas turbine investment will reposition that mill as a first quartile cost producer of specialty dissolving pulp generally, and particularly in its key grades of Cellulose Ethers and Nitrocellulose where it is the world’s largest supplier,” said Yvon Pelletier, Executive Vice President and President, Specialty Cellulose and Chemical Group.

“Ten years ago, the Tartas mill was restricted in its ability to produce these dissolving grades. Today, through a series of investments, the mill now has the capability to direct virtually all of its output into these products, with more than 90% of the production capacity currently dedicated to the specialty dissolving business. This project builds on those earlier investments and will result in energy, environmental and economic benefits – a great combination,” concluded Mr. Pelletier

In addition to the projected economic benefits, this investment will improve mill reliability with the retirement of a smaller and less efficient 40-year old steam turbine. This project will also help the site avoid disruptions associated with power interruptions and fluctuations from the grid.

“Tartas is a key facility in one of Tembec’s core businesses. The project announced today will position the Tartas mill as one of the lowest cost producers of specialty dissolving pulp in the world,” said James Lopez, President and CEO of Tembec. “This investment is consistent with Tembec’s overall strategy of having all of its assets in the first or second quartile of their respective cost curves.”

Tembec is a large, diversified and integrated forest products company which stands as the global leader in sustainable forest management practices. The Company’s principal operations are located in Canada and in France. Tembec’s common shares are listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol TMB and warrants under TMB.WT. Additional information on Tembec is available on its website at www.tembec.com

Sunday, 09 January 2011 11:04

Hildemar Böhm takes helm

Hildemar Böhm has been appointed the new Chairman of the Körber PaperLink GmbH Management Board.As already announced, there has been a change in the senior management of the Körber Group’s Paper Division. Hildemar Böhm (51), previously CEO of the Mechanical Equipment Segment within the GEA Group, took up his new position as Chairman of the Management Board of Körber PaperLink GmbH on January 3.

At the same time, Böhm was also appointed to the Executive Board of Körber AG.


Announcement from August 3rd 2010 can be seen in the link below.

State lawmakers convening in Olympia are looking under every pebble for new money.   They must write a budget with as much as 20 percent less tax revenue.

Often when cash is short, some want to repeal the so-called “tax loopholes.” They presume that businesses will simply cough up the extra cash. There are two problems with that line of thinking: First, the extra tax burden will cause some businesses to stop hiring or close altogether. Second, eliminating tax incentives tells prospective new employers, “Go away, we don’t want you here.”

Look at California, for example. Its combined state and local sales tax is 10.25 cents on the dollar — the highest in the nation. Yet state lawmakers have consistently rejected proposals to reduce the sales tax for manufacturers.

That is one reason the Golden State has lost 633,000 manufacturing jobs since 2001. According to a Business First of Buffalo study released at the end of December, the Los Angeles area alone lost more than 300,000 jobs averaging $64,000 a year.

Washington has long understood the value tax incentives bring to the state. In 1972, following massive layoffs at Boeing, state lawmakers created the Economic Assistance Authority (EAA) to attract industrial investments.

It worked. The EAA incentives were pivotal in Crown Zellerbach’s decision to modernize its mammoth Camas pulp and paper mill where 3,000 people worked, instead of expanding a newer mill in Oregon. The EAA included a sales tax exemption on new pollution control equipment — roughly half of the modernization cost — a sales tax deferral on the entire project and a B&O tax credit on the other half of the costs. In 1978, with the incentives in hand, Crown began the five-year modernization project despite a deep recession with double-digit unemployment, inflation and high interest rates.

But in 1981, when Republicans took control, the state was in a financial hole. Republican Gov. John Spellman, House Speaker Bill Polk, R-Bellevue, and Senate Leader Jeannette Hayner, R-Walla Walla, faced plummeting state revenues, much like the situation we face today.

Desperate to bring in much-needed cash, Spellman and Republican lawmakers repealed the EAA tax incentives. That one decision added $10 million to the cost of the Camas modernization project, and even though Spellman and lawmakers later restored the EAA credits for the Camas facility, the damage was done. Since then, Crown Zellerbach and its subsequent owners have concentrated their investments outside Washington.

In 1995, Democrat Gov. Mike Lowry and a bipartisan group of legislators restored sales tax exemption on manufacturing machinery and equipment with spectacular results.

For example, an Association of Washington Business survey of 150 small manufacturers showed they invested more than $250 million in the first year alone. Over the first decade, it added $81.5 billion to the state coffers, generated more than $16.5 billion in income and created nearly 285,000 jobs.

Conversely, a 2007 California Manufacturers and Technology Association study found that California lost more than $5 billion in state tax revenue by not having a sales tax exemption for manufacturers.

Finally, a three-year study by Washington’s Joint Legislative Audit Review Committee found that most business tax incentives are functioning exactly as they were intended, either stimulating business or helping level the field for Washington firms that compete nationwide. The committee warned that ending the tax exemptions would simply cause businesses to move out of state.

Tax incentives work. So when someone starts bellyaching about lost revenues and tax “loopholes,” tell them to look at what is happening in California.

By Don C. Brunell
Association of Washington Business

Södra has confirmed that it is maintaining its price for softwood pulp in Europe at USD 950 per tonne, valid from 1 January 2011. “The market for softwood pulp is balanced”, said Ulf Edman, president of Södra Cell International.

For further information, please contact:
Ulf Edman, President of Södra Cell International, +46 70 677 8769
Per Braconier, Director of Corporate Communications, Södra, +46 70 534 5166

Pöyry's Energy business group has been awarded the engineering, procurement and construction contract for a tall oil plant of Mörrum Mill in Sweden by Södra Cell AB. The value of the assignment is not disclosed. The project will be executed over a period of ten months.

 The assignment includes a 4.2 t/h crude tall oil plant with auxiliaries based on the HDS® (Hydro Dynamic Separation) technology, which is Pöyry´s proprietary know-how. Similar technology based equipment has already been installed in the 20 most modern pulp mills in Europe, the USA, Canada and China. Currently, Pöyry has one similar project under construction in Austria. The plant has high yield, good availability and low maintenance costs and it produces high-quality crude tall oil.

Södra Cell AB is one of the world's leading suppliers of paper pulp. The Group has five pulp mills; Mönterås, Mörrum and Varö in Sweden and Tofte and Folla in Norway.

PÖYRY PLC

Additional information by:

Ari Asikainen, President, Energy business group, Pöyry PLC, Finland

Tel. +358 10 33 24476

Tero Vainiomäki, Vice President, Project Management, EPC projects, Pöyry Finland Oy, Energy business unit

Tel. +358 10 33 24538


Pöyry is a global consulting and engineering company dedicated to balanced sustainability and responsible business. With quality and integrity at our core, we deliver best-in-class management consulting, total solutions, and design and supervision. Our in-depth expertise extends to the fields of energy, industry, urban & mobility and water & environment. Pöyry has 7000 experts and the local office network in about 50 countries. Pöyry's net sales in 2009 were EUR 674 million and the company's shares are quoted on NASDAQ OMX Helsinki. (Pöyry PLC: POY1V).

DISTRIBUTION:

www.poyry.com

Ahlstrom Corporation, a global leader in nonwovens and specialty papers, today announces that it has signed a EUR 45 million loan agreement with the European Investment Bank.

The loan will be used for research and product development and innovation purposes in the years 2010 to 2013 at Ahlstrom's sites in Finland, France, Germany and Italy.The final repayment date of the loan is 7 years from drawdown.

For further information, please contact:
Seppo Parvi
CFO
Tel. +358 10 888 4768

AbitibiBowater will host a management conference call and webcast to discuss the emergence from its financial and operational restructuring at 9:00 a.m. (Eastern) on Friday, January 14, 2011.

Interested parties may listen to the one-hour live conference call by dialing 866 696-5910, and using access code 3276848. A webcast of the call as well as a presentation will be available on AbitibiBowater's website at www.abitibibowater.com.

A replay of the call will be available through January 28, 2011 by dialing 800 408-3053 and using access code 1432588. A replay will also be available on the Company's website.

AbitibiBowater is a global leader in the forest products industry, producing a diverse range of products, including newsprint, commercial printing and packaging papers, market pulp and wood products. The Company owns or operates 18 pulp and paper mills and 24 wood products facilities located in the United States, Canada and South Korea. Marketing its products in more than 70 countries, AbitibiBowater is also among the largest recyclers of old newspapers and magazines in North America, and has third-party certified 100% of its managed woodlands to sustainable forest management standards. AbitibiBowater's shares trade under the stock symbol ABH on both the New York Stock Exchange and the Toronto Stock Exchange.

For further information: Investors: Duane Owens, Vice President, Finance, 864 282-9488; Media and Others: Seth Kursman, Vice President, Public Affairs, Sustainability & Environment, 514 394-2398, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Temple-Inland Inc. will release its results for fourth quarter and full year 2010 on February 8, 2011, before the market opens.

The company will host a conference call on February 8, 2011 at 9:30 a.m. Eastern Time to discuss results for fourth quarter and full year 2010.

To access the conference call, listeners calling from the United States and Canada should dial 1-866-394-6665 at least 15 minutes prior to the start of the call. The passcode for the conference call is: 35277364. Those wishing to access the call from outside the United States and Canada should dial 1-706-634-1667 and use the same passcode as set forth above. Replays of the call will be available for two weeks following completion of the live call and can be accessed at 1-800-642-1687 in the United States and Canada and at 1-706-645-9291 outside the United States and Canada. The passcode for the replay is: 35277364.

The conference call may also be accessed through Temple-Inland's Internet site, www.templeinland.com, by clicking on "Investor Relations - Investor Events."

Temple-Inland Inc. is a manufacturing company focused on corrugated packaging and building products. The fully integrated corrugated packaging operation consists of 7 mills and 60 converting facilities. The building products operation manufactures a diverse line of building products for new home construction, commercial and repair and remodeling markets. Temple-Inland's address on the World Wide Web is www.templeinland.com.

SOURCE: Temple-Inland Inc.

Alberta-Pacific Forest Industries Inc. has been named one of Canada?s Top 100 Employers for the fourth year running.

Maclean?s magazine, in partnership with Mediacorp Canada Inc, began determining the list of 2011 Top 100 companies by examining the recruitment histories of over 75,000 Canadian employers. From this initial group Mediacorp invited 10,000 employers to submit an application plus those of another 2,500 companies it wanted to examine more closely.

These employers were evaluated in eight key areas: physical workplace; work atmosphere and social; health, financial and family benefits; vacation and time off; employee communications; performance management; training and skills development; and, community involvement. The employers on the resulting list were each identified as having exemplary workplace environments.

?In many aspects of life, longevity and consistency are the true mark of success,? says Al-Pac?s vice-president of human resources Derek Getty. ?Economic challenges made it necessary for us to evaluate our long-term programs, but by keeping as many of them as possible in place, we were able to maintain the kind of consistency our team members expect while continuing to rank among Canada?s leading employers.?

Among the company?s attributes presented in its application are company-wide profit sharing, comprehensive and competitive benefits, industry leading training, workplace flexibility and subsidized community volunteering. The company also provides team members with a four-day workweek, driving range, 16-hectare trout pond, fitness centre and walking trails. Detailed reasons for selection are available by visiting www.eluta.ca and accessing the link to Alberta-Pacific Forest Industries Inc.

For more information about Al-Pac or Canada?s top 100 companies visit www.alpac.ca or www.macleans.ca

Al-Pac is North America's largest single-line kraft pulp mill, producing 650,000 air-dried metric tonnes of bleached hardwood and softwood pulp annually. The company?s 450 team members are focused on producing quality pulp for customers around the world and environmental leadership. In 2005, Al-Pac received Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification, a leading standard that embraces social and environmental values along with sound forest management and manufacturing practices.

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