Temporary shutdown of the PM 4 necessary to create better balance between demand and supply and to avoid unprofitable production at the Walsum mill, according to Norske Skog.
Norske Skog is planning to curtail production at the Walsum paper mill in Germany due to excess capacity in the coated magazine paper market. The company said it was going to temporarily idle the 225,000 tpy light-weight coated (LWC) paper machine PM 4 as of the middle of December. "Walsum's second paper machine, PM 10, will continue to produce LWC magazine paper at an annual capacity of 200,000 t," Norske Skog explained in a press release on 3 October.
The Walsum paper mill houses two paper mills with a total capacity of 435,000 tpy and employs about 520 people. 40% of the offset and rotogravure LWC paper produced at Walsum is sold to customers in Germany; another 40% is destined for Europe, while the remaining 20% is traded overseas.
Customers the PM 4 customers would be served from other Norske Skog paper machines and mills; all existing supply commitments would be honoured, the company said.
