The closure of UPM's French Docelles mill is now imminent. The woodfree uncotaed paper mill is to be shut down by the end of this month.
UPM has announced its intention to close down the Docelles fine paper mill in France for good by the end of January. As a result, 160,000 tpy of woodfree uncoated paper capacity will be taken from the market.
According to UPM, 161 employees are affected by the closure. The employee information and consultation negotiations had been completed on 13 December and the social plan approved by the authorities on 13 January, the company said.
In January 2013, UPM had announced its intention to either sell or close the Docelles mill in order to adjust its graphic paper capacity and support operations to match the declining demand in Europe. In recent months, a sale had become more and more unlikely but was not completely ruled out, either. The company now said it had not found a buyer which could offer a credible future for the mill. "However, UPM is still open to consider the sale of Docelles mill machinery and property," it added.
UPM said it booked charges of €25m as special items related to the restructuring of the mill in the fourth quarter of 2013.
