Paper Excellence has decided to permanently close the Catalyst Paper Tiskwat paper mill in Powell River in Canada’s Province of British Columbia. The site used to produce newsprint and specialty papers for print and packaging applications with a capacity of 334,000 tpy. The company is currently looking for a buyer for the site.
Production at the Tiskwat mill has already been idle since November 2021. In December of the same year, Paper Excellence shut down the site for an indefinite period of time, citing shrinking demand on global paper markets and receding paper prices. The mill will now not be restarted again. "Following a comprehensive review of options, it has been determined that a restart of a pulp or paper business is not feasible," the company stated.
According to Paper Excellence, in the 18 months since the indefinite curtailment, the majority of employees took voluntary severance, and a small number transferred to another Paper Excellence mill. When fully operating, Catalyst Paper Tiskwat employed approximately 200 people.
Paper Excellence is a manufacturer of pulp and specialty, printing, writing, and packaging papers in Canada with a production capacity of over 2.5 million tpy and a workforce of more than 2,100. Besides the Tiskwat mill, the company runs another five mills in British Columbia.
