Resolute Forest Products recently announced the permanent closure of its Laurentide paper mill in Shawinigan, Quebec, Canada.
"The restart of a competitor's mill at the end of 2012, the high cost of fiber, as well as higher transportation and fuel costs, have affected the mill's competitiveness," the company said in a press statement.
Richard Garneau, President and CEO of Resolute said, "We made every effort to find a way to improve the Laurentide mill's performance. Unfortunately, due to its cost structure and challenging market conditions, there is no economically viable option for the mill."
On November 26, 2012, Resolute permanently shutdown one of the mill's two paper machines, PM 10, which had the capacity to produce 125,000 metric tons per year of comercial printing papers. At that time, the company explained that a substantial drop in demand and an increase in market capacity of the paper grade produced on PM 10 were factors behind the decision to shutdown the machine.
In operation for over 126 years, the Laurentide mill employs 275, with an annual production capacity of 191,000 metric tons of commercial printing papers on one paper machine, PM 11.
The permanent closure will take effect on or about October 15, 2014.
