ANDRITZ to upgrade evaporation plant for Moorim P&P, South Korea

In an effort to manage our extensive paper manufacturing system in the most efficient and responsive way, Verso is discontinuing production of our Focus® grade as of July 31, 2018. Our current Focus® inventory will be available for sale until it is extinguished. Our Influence® offering will continue to be Verso’s flagship brand for the No. 3 coated freesheet web market. The elimination of the Focus® grade allows for expanded production of Influence® Gloss, Soft-Gloss®, Matte, and Gravure. With this streamlined grade structure, Verso’s inventory replenishment of Influence® will also be enhanced. Click Read More below for additional information.

News of the sale of the Ohio-based company Verso could have major implications on Wisconsin's paper and timber industries. But the Swedish company that's buying it hasn't clarified its plans for the shuttered Wisconsin Rapids mill. The Rapids mill employed 900 workers and served as the upper Midwest's largest buyer of Wisconsin forest products until the company took the mill idle in July 2020. The closure has had lasting effects on the city, and on industries that relied on the mill — especially logging. The packaging company BillerudKorsnäs AB announced Sunday it would acquire Verso Corp. In statements and in a press conference, executives for the company announced a $1 billion, nearly decade-long plan to convert and upgrade the mill in Escanaba, Michigan, into a producer of sustainably made paperboard. They also discussed plans to maintain operations at Verso's mill in Quinnesec, Michigan. Conspicuously absent from either company's statements, though, was significant discussion of Wisconsin Rapids.

The unfolding of the past several months has led to more unpredictability than any of us could have imagined. Stay-at-home orders, social distancing guidelines and consumer panic buying have created major irregularities in tissue and towel market dynamics and consumption patterns. These challenges also present a great opportunity to help tissue and towel producers adapt and respond to these sudden changes. As consumers around the world actively stockpiled supplies and household staple items, tissue makers were pushed to maximize production. In some countries, bath tissue sales increased by more than 50% during the early months of the pandemic. Though machine utilization rates spiked to nearly 100%, there were still difficulties meeting demand. In the wake of the global pandemic, there is a renewed emphasis on hand hygiene that has resulted in more hand washing and hand drying occasions. Many establishments are also replacing hot and jet air dryers with paper towel dispensers in public restrooms. In addition, experts recommend cleaning and disinfecting high-touch surfaces at least once a day to minimize the risk of COVID-19 transmission via surface contact. All of these trends are driving an increase in paper towel usage and pushing manufacturers to enhance their product requirements.