Determined to stay competitive in the face of Canadian government-subsidized competition, the North Pacific Paper Company (NORPAC) announced today the reorganization of its operations. In October 2017, NORPAC will reduce its production capacity by idling one of its three paper machines and expanding the remaining capacity to serve customers.
“As we seek to level the playing field under U.S. trade laws to counteract the dumped and subsidized imports from Canada, NORPAC will become a nimbler, stronger supplier to our customers by reorganizing around our two remaining paper machines,” said Craig Anneberg, CEO of NORPAC. “Our company is constantly working to improve both our products and operations to remain competitive despite unfair import pricing and Canadian government-subsidized competition.”
“To keep our company competitive and protect our employees, NORPAC will use all the tools at its disposal under the U.S. trade law to address and counteract the dumped and subsidized imports from Canada,” said Anneberg.
The reorganization and expansion of capacity for its remaining paper machines follows NORPAC’s filing on August 9, 2017 of antidumping and countervailing duty petitions with the U.S. government. The antidumping and countervailing duty petitions allege that Canadian producers of certain types of uncoated groundwood paper (UGW Paper) receive countervailable government susidies and are also dumping their product in the United States Market. Canadian federal and provincial governments provide significant assistance to Canadian UGW producers, whose exports the the United States have caused injury to NORPAC and other U.S. producers.
“All of our employees have dedicated their careers to making NORPAC what it is today – one of the finest papermills in the world known for quality, service and innovation. The closure of a paper machine has been a very difficult decision for everyone involved,” added Anneberg. “We will do everything in our power to make sure our teams of employees have a level playing field to commpete in the future. As we move forward, we will engage our teams in transition planning, which will include transition resources for impacted NORPAC employees.”
NORPAC is one of only two remaining U.S.-owned groundwood paper companies, and is one of the largest employers in rural Southwest Washington. These are strong, family wage manufacturing jos that cannot be replaced in a rural community that faces some of the highest unemployment in the state. NORPAC produces a broad range of high-quality papers to customers across the United States and around the world.
Source: NORPAC Press Release