The Navigator Company to increase uncoated woodfree paper prices by 5-7%

American Forest & Paper Association President and CEO Donna Harman issued the following statement regarding a trilateral trade agreement between the United States, Mexico and Canada: “AF&PA supports a modernized trade agreement between the United States, Mexico and Canada and is encouraged that negotiations have produced a positive result. We are one of the largest manufacturing sectors in America where $9.6 billion (45 percent) of our pulp and paper products are exported to our neighbors on our northern and southern borders supporting 52,000 direct and many more indirect American jobs. While we are disappointed that investor-state dispute settlement was not retained in its entirety for all manufacturers, we will be reviewing the accord’s details to ensure that the agreement preserves and improves the market access that has benefitted our industry and its workers. We look forward to working with Congress in the coming weeks.”

Ted O’Connor has been named Senior Vice President and General Manager, Mohawk Envelope and Converting. In this new role, Ted leads Mohawk’s sales and marketing efforts for envelopes, while working closely with manufacturing and supply chain teams to enhance Mohawk’s rapidly growing envelope and converting businesses. Previously, Ted served as Senior Vice President, Sales, responsible for sales of fine paper across North America. Melissa Stevens has been promoted to Senior Vice President, Sales for Premium Paper. In this new role, Melissa will leverage her expertise in sales process management to drive sales and business development efforts for Mohawk’s core premium paper business across North America. Previously, Melissa served as Vice President, Sales. Beth Reardon has been promoted to Sales Director, East, overseeing business development efforts and field sales activities in the Midwest, Mid Atlantic and Northeast Regions of the U.S. Nancy Dutch has been promoted to Sales Director, West, overseeing business development efforts and field sales activities in the West and South Central regions of the U.S. Becky Thomas has been promoted to National Accounts Manager, New England, overseeing business development efforts for Mohawk’s core paper, social stationery and packaging businesses.

Sappi Chief Executive Officer Steve Binnie, commenting on the group’s performance, said: “Our third quarter operating performance was in line with previous guidance with earnings (EBITDA ex special items) flat at US$155 million compared to a year ago. The third quarter is seasonally and historically our weakest quarter due to the slow-down in business activity during the Northern Hemisphere summer holiday period and Sappi’s choice to use this quarter to undertake major annual maintenance shuts. A strong performance by our European operations was offset by a number of once-off operational and production issues in our South African and North American businesses. “Capital expenditure increased due to the now completed paper machine conversion at Somerset Mill and the debottlenecking of dissolving wood pulp (DWP) production at our Ngodwana and Saiccor Mills. I am pleased that we have completed the conversion projects at Somerset and Maastricht Mills and that we can look forward to significantly improved packaging sales volumes in the coming financial year. Click Read More below for additional information.