Domtar Corporation curtailing paper operations

Domtar Corporation, a Paper Excellence Group company, announced it will curtail paper operations for the foreseeable future at it’s Ashdown facility.

The Ashdown Mill’s A62 paper machine and associated sheeter will be indefinitely idled by the end of June. The move will reduce Domtar’s annual uncoated freesheet capacity by 216,000 short tons.

Domtar restarted the A62 paper machine in 2021 to supply additional uncoated freesheet paper to it’s North American customers. According to Rob Melton, the Senior Vice President of Paper and Packaging Commercial, the move to idle the A62 paper machine was made after a careful analysis of the current customer needs. He said it was determined that customer demand for uncoated freesheet paper has reached a level that no longer requires the Ashdown production capacity.

As a result to this change, the Ashdown mill will restart its pulp dryer, resulting in 165,000 air dried metric tons annually of added capacity of southern bleached softwood kraft pulp. This new capacity increases the mill’s total to 700,000 air dried metric tons annually, in addition to 442,000 air dried metric tons of fluff pulp.

Domtar Corporation said they have reached a tentative agreement with the local union and no employees will be laid off as a result of this announcement.