Cascades closes Maine deinked pulp mill

Cascades Inc., Kingsey Falls, Quebec, has announced plans to close its Auburn, Maine, deinked pulp mill in early July. The company has set a timetable for ending production on July 8 and closing its doors on July 15.

"The rapid erosion of the printing and writing paper market, the overall deterioration of market conditions for deinked pulp and the low potential for integration with other Cascades activities are all factors that have had significant negative consequences for our Auburn plant. Despite major efforts to optimize in the past year, the situation at the plant remained extremely difficult. Therefore, we are unfortunately forced to cease operations'' said Luc Langevin, president and COO of Cascades Specialty Products Group, in a statement.

Cascades acquired the Auburn mill in 1998. The company had been shopping the mill for a period of time. But, with a decline in demand for its finished product and an oversupply of material on the market made it difficult to keep the mill running.