Kruger Announces Newsprint/UGW price Increase

UPM Raflatac and the Paper Workers' Union have reached an outcome in the collective labour agreement negotiations concerning UPM Raflatac’s Tampere factory in Finland. "The negotiations were conducted in a very good spirit and constructively from start to finish. I would like to thank the Paper Workers’ Union for its solution-oriented approach and for the good negotiations. The solution will enable the long-term development of the Tampere factory," says Antti Waajakoski, General Manager of UPM Raflatac’s Tampere factory. The new collective agreement will have a two-year contract period and it will enter into force upon approval by the Paper Workers’ Union’s Board. The union has announced that the Board will discuss the negotiation outcome at its meeting on 5 June 2024. Negotiations on the collective labour agreement for UPM Specialty Papers will continue.

Lecta has decided to invest in a refuse-derived fuel (RDF) boiler for its Condat paper mill in France, which will be finished by mid-2024. This is a great energy transformation project that presents multiple environmental and economic advantages, in line with the Sustainability goals that Lecta is working on. The RDF boiler project is based on circular economy, as we will collect from local sources the waste with high biogenic content that will be used as fuel. This will help to reduce the volume of waste that currently cannot be recovered and would otherwise end up in landfills. Regarding energy, the new boiler will cover about 50% of the mill’s steam needs. This will increase the mill’s competitiveness because the generation of steam will be much less expensive than with natural gas. In addition, there will be a reduction of gas related CO2 emissions by a total of 55.000 tonnes per annum.

The self-assessment results, have exceeded internal expectations and positions the operation as a leader in sustainable practices, evidenced by a low environmental footprint. Unfortunately, current Covid-19 restrictions have prevented an on-site verification process from taking place, however members of the SAC are invited to connect via the Higg portal to view the results and engage with us further in this regard. The Higg FEM is part of the Higg Index suite of tools that was developed by the SAC to allow the apparel industry to measure their sustainability performance. Sappi joined the SAC in February 2019 and remains a committed member of the organisation, being a participant in many of the SAC events and engaging in ongoing discussions on how to enhance the tools on offer.