The temporary shutdown will decrease Domtar’s uncoated freesheet paper production capacity by around 144,000 short tonnes

Domtar

Domtar is set to temporarily shut down paper operations at two US mills. (Credit: andreas160578 from Pixabay.)

Fibre-based products provider Domtar has announced the temporary idling of paper capacity at two US mills to address the impact of COVID-19 related business.

The company has temporarily shut down the operations at Kingsport milk in Tennessee, as well as the A62 paper machine at its Ashdown mill in Arkansas for three months, as a result of the unforeseeable business conditions induced by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The temporary shutdown will decrease the company’s uncoated freesheet paper production capacity by around 144,000 short tonnes over a period of three months.

Domtar will lay off around 446 employees at two mills due to the temporary shutdown

Due to the temporary shutdown, Domtar has decided to lay off around 304 employees at its Kingsport mill and 142 employees at its Ashdown mill.

Domtar said that its other facilities continue to operate at full capacity and continue to ship products to all states and provinces to meet the requirements of its customers.

Domtar president and CEO John Williams said: “Given the evolving market conditions, we are taking the appropriate steps to optimize our operations, which will ensure that we remain an agile, reliable partner to our customers.

“We regret the impact these temporary shutdowns will have on our Kingsport and Ashdown employees and their families, and we are doing everything we can to support them during this time.”

In February this year, Domtar signed an asset purchase agreement to acquire point of sale (POS) paper business from Appvion Operations for an undisclosed sum.

Under the deal, Domtar will acquire Appvion’s coater and related equipment at the West Carrollton facility in Ohio.

The firm offers a range of fibre-based products, including communication, speciality and packaging papers, market pulp and absorbent hygiene products.

With around 10,000 employees, the company carries out operations in over 50 countries across the world. The company is said to have annual sales of around $5.2bn.