Clearwater Paper is moving to plan B to sell store brand toilet paper it's producing at a new plant in Shelby, N.C.
Negotiations with three "large, national" accounts didn't go as well as the company hoped, said Chief Financial Officer John Hertz, according to The Lewiston Tribune Online.
"We did gain share there. We did get incremental business with those new customers, but not at the levels that we expected," as quoted by The Lewiston Tribune Online.
In the short term, the setback limits potential channels for the 70,000 tons of tissue Clearwater Paper will make each year at Shelby when the plant reaches its full capacity.
The company had earlier planned the plant to reach its full contribution in the first part of 2014.
Price competition was the obstacle in negotiations, Hertz said, with the same three to five names showing up in the bid process. He didn't name the other businesses.
The new plant is starting when some of Clearwater Paper's competitors are also launching machines that make the same type of upper-end tissue produced by Shelby.
