Great Northern Paper Inc. will temporarily curtail production on two of the four paper machines at its Millinocket, Maine, mill.
"Difficult market conditions and a shortage of orders for specialty and coated paper grades necessitates a temporary curtailment of part of the Millinocket mill," said Eldon Doody, president of GNP, in a local news report.
The production curtailment began March 18 and will run through April 1, if the company obtains sufficient orders. Employees said the curtailment could be extended if the company does not obtain sufficient orders.
Brian Stetson, GNP's spokesman and director of environmental affairs, said the company believes it will have orders. "But this is a tough market. We will have to wait and see," he said, in an article in the Bangor Daily.
The curtailment will mean two older paper machines - Nos. 7 and 8 - and the off-machine coater complex will be shut down temporarily. The machines produce LWC and supercalendered paper.
According to local news reports the downtime being taken is the second for the mill in the last five months. The closure is a reflection in the sluggish forest products industry. Despite the fact that many parts of the U.S. economy are starting to improve, many components of the paper industry have yet to see any substantial rebound in markets.
Stetson said the company has orders for the No. 10 and the newly rebuilt No. 11 paper machines at the Millinocket mill. "We hope our order book will get stronger as the year progresses," said Stetson.
The announced shutdown follows a number of other moves taken by mills throughout the country to idle capacity to bring supply and demand into balance. During the recently concluded Paper Week program, a raft of speakers acknowledged as much, noting that the short term forecast for the paper industry is for only a very modest improvement through the end of this year.