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Domtar to cease production on two U.S. paper machines

Domtar Corporation is permanently shutting down two of its paper machines in the United States, resulting in the loss of about 100 jobs.

The closures will take place at the Ashdown, Arkansas pulp and paper mill, and the Port Huron, Michigan paper mill.

The company says these measures will reduce its annual uncoated freesheet paper capacity by approximately 204,000 short tons.

The closure of the Ashdown paper machine will be effective immediately and the closure of the Port Huron machine by mid-November.

“I wish to sincerely thank colleagues impacted by the closures and recognize their hard work and contribution to Domtar over many years,” says John D. Williams, president and chief executive officer of Domtar.

“The closure of the two paper machines will enable us to right-size our paper production capacity with our customer demand. This proactive measure is necessary due to increased imports and declining paper demand.”

The Ashdown mill will continue to operate one paper machine with an annual uncoated freesheet paper production capacity of 200,000 short tons and employ approximately 725 people.

The mill also operates one of the world’s largest fluff pulp machines, with the flexibility to produce softwood pulp depending on market conditions. As a result of the closure of the paper machine, the mill will produce an incremental 70,000 ADMT of softwood and fluff pulp, which will ramp up over the next 12 months.

The Port Huron mill will continue to produce a variety of technical and specialty papers, using three machines with a total annual production capacity of 95,000 short tons. Following the closure, the mill will employ approximately 212 people.