Sonoco-Alcore to close Nordhorn mill, Schweighouse-sur-Moder to be restarted soon

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Sonoco-Alcore will remove 40,000 t of coreboard capacity from the market by closing down its Nordhorn facility in Germany. The company also plans to invest in its Schweighouse-sur-Moder mill which has been standing still since 21 February and is currently in the start-up phase.

Coreboard and tubes manufacturer Sonoco-Alcore announced that it has started discussions to permanently close its Nordhorn uncoated recycled paperboard mill in Germany, effective in April 2012.

The company also said it would be investing nearly €6m over the next 18 months at its Schweighouse-Sur-Moder coreboard mill in France. The investments were primarily focused around energy, material and environmental efficiency, said Sonoco-Alcore. The program is scheduled to start during the summer and to be completed near the end of 2013.

Sonoco-Alcore said the Schweighouse-sur-Moder mill which has been standing still since 21 February was currently in the start-up phase. A fire had damaged parts of the machines' drying section.

The Nordhorn mill located in northwest Germany has the capacity to produce 40,000 t of coreboard that has principally been used for internal converting operations, according to Sonoco-Alcore. The mill closure will reportedly impact 50 employees at the site.

Adam Wood, Vice President and General Manager of Sonoco-Alcore Europe, said that the company was focusing on investments into its larger and wider mills. He explained that Nordhorn was Sonoco Alcore’s smallest mill with escalating costs in energy, transportation and raw materials, while the company’s remaining six paper machines in Europe had lower operating costs and had enough capacity to serve its internal converting operations as well as trade customers in the uncoated recycled paperboard market.

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