Richmond-based pulp and paper company Paper Excellence plans to open its Chetwynd pulp mill as early July.
The mill, located in northeastern British Columbia, has been idle since September 2012. Paper Excellence bought the mill from Tembec in March 2014.
Paper Excellence is investing $50 million to upgrade the Chetwynd mill. When operational, the pulp mill will employ around 150 people, Jessica Ko, legal counsel for Paper Excellence, told Business in Vancouver.
Paper Excellence, a relative newcomer to Canada’s pulp and paper scene, has been on an acquiring spree since 2007. It now owns four pulp mills in B.C. as well as mills in Saskatchewan, Nova Scotia and Alberta. The pulp mills it has acquired in B.C. have tended to be older, higher-cost mills.
The company sells most of its pulp to Asia through its connections with Asia Pulp and Paper (APP), which owned by Indonesian conglomerate Sinar Mas. Paper Excellence is a preferred supplier to APP.
Paper Excellence’s acquisitions have guaranteed it — and APP — a supply of NBSK pulp, which is in demand because its long fibres work well to make tissues and paper towels. NBSK can be produced only from northern forests.
@jenstden
