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Cascades keeps up the pace Cascades, Inc., headquartered in Kingsey Falls, QC, has had a busy period. Its Tissue Group has bought Newstech MD, LP in Hagerstown, MD, a deinking mill built in 1995 and not operational since spring 1997. Its two DIP lines have a production capacity of 400 tonnes/day. Suzanne Blanchet, president and CEO of the Tissue Group, said the transaction “enables us to acquire excellent production equipment at a very attractive price. Over the next few months, we will use them either to improve our production of deinking pulp or in the production of tissue paper.” In August, Cascades continued its operational optimization by saying the end of October would see the closing of a specialty mill in France, one of two that produce backing for vinyl flooring. The Cascades Ste-Marie SAS mill in Boissy le Chatel is part of the Specialty Products Group. It was acquired in 1999 and employs 34 people. Falling demand for the product led to the closure. Certain of the mill’s assets may be transferred to its Cap de la Madeleine, QC, plant. Also in August, Cascades exercised an option to buy coating equipment from Caraustar Industries Inc.’s Rittman, OH, coated recycled board mill for $0.5 million; it had the option to buy following the April purchase of the Sprague, CT, coated recycled board mill from Caraustar. The equipment will be incorporated into the line-up at its East Angus, QC, recycled boxboard plant to upgrade coating capacity. As well, Cascades Inc. indefinitely suspended operations at its FjordCell kraft pulp mill, Jonquiere, QC. “The highest chip costs in the world” were among the reasons for the closure. Quebec chips cost about $C150/tonne; in British Columbia they are about $C70/tonne. Another reason was the volatility of the Canadian dollar against that of the US. A spokesman said that every time the Canadian dollar goes up by one cent against the US dollar, the mill loses $C500, 000 a year. www.cascades.com.
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