Europe
ROMANIA
Petrocart boosts production with Toscotec installation
Romanian-based Petrocart has ordered a complete tissue production line from Toscotec.
It will be installed at the company’s Piatra Neamt site and is expected to be up and running at the beginning of 2013.
Adrian Vais, director general of Petrocart, told TW: “Despite the installation, at this moment we can’t speak of an increase in demand in Romania because everything is decreasing, just as it is around the world.
“However, our project began before the crisis came back. One of the main reasons for the investment was to reduce energy, and we also invested in order to diversify.”
He added that green tissue products are just starting to become popular in Romania.
“I don’t expect to have big growth in the near future for such products. But the market for good quality tissue, 100% virgin pulp is increasingly replacing the qualities obtained from waste, if the difference in price is not too big. I expect the price to be key in the future, along with decent quality.”
The Toscotec delivery is based on a turnkey concept and includes a virgin pulp stock preparation line, upgrade and implementation of the existing waste paper plant and flotation units for water recovery technology. It also includes a steel Yankee cylinder TT SYD 12FT. The machine has a width of 2.85m and a design speed of 1,500 m/min, and the new production line will produce 75 tpd of high-quality toilet and towel grades.
Toscotec said the new project will focus on reduced energy consumption. It will look to reduce the usage of waste paper in the manufacturing process, recovery and re-usage of the process water, low emissions (noise and pollutants).
“One of the main reasons for the investment was to reduce energy, and we also invested in order to diversify.” – Petrocart director general Adrian Vais
Davide Mainardi, Toscotec sales and customer care director, told TW: “The machine will have a double press solution, and the hood will use co-generation gases produced from a turbine.
“This will produce also electrical energy for feeding the plant. The residual gases from the hood will also be used in a heat recovery boiler. These are all important issues when it comes to energy savings.”
He said that Toscotec started supplying to the Romanian market in 2003 with Comceh (110 tpd), and in 2009 it also supplied a machine for Pehart (110 tpd). “We have a long tradition in that market,” he added. The project received a contribution granted from the European Economic Community and was assigned to Toscotec after an official tender procedure.
Petrocart employs 300 people and was established in 1908. It was previously known as the Commune of Paris Paper and Cardboard Mill, and adopted its present name, SC Petrocart SA Piatra Neamt, in 1990.
It manufactures paper and cardboard for various products, including tissue products Helga, Salmo and Fana.
ITALY
Cartiera Lucchese to acquire G-P’s Italian tissue mills
Lucart Group’s Cartiera Lucchese has signed a takeover agreement to acquire Georgia Pacific’s Italian-based Castelnuovo and Avigliano tissue mills.
The deal also includes the company’s headquarters in Genoa and its Tenderly and Tutto brands.
Castelnuovo is based in Lucca and produces 45,000 tpy, while Potenza-based Avigliano produces 16,000 tpy.
Massimo Pasquini, chief executive of Cartiera Lucchese, said that despite difficult times, the company strongly believes that Italy has “great development” opportunities.
He said: “It is possible to work towards strengthening our position in Italy.”
“We are also convinced that this operation will allow us to be more competitive by creating higher value for our customers, consumers and employees in the medium/long term period.”
Lucart Group is a European manufacturer of MG paper and tissue products for use in toilet paper, kitchen towel, napkins and tablecloths. The production capacity of the Lucart Group is 280,000 tpy, divided over nine paper machines and 56 converting lines.
Georgia Pacific Italia has around 300 employees.
TURKEY
G-P to sell stake in tissue joint venture Ipek Kagit
Georgia-Pacific is set to sell its 50% stake in tissue company Ipek Kagıt to its Turkish partner, the Eczacıbası Group.
Eczacıbası aims to become the sole owner of Turkish tissue paper manufacturer Ipek Kagıt. The share transfer resulting from the agreement is expected to take effect in early 2012, subject to regulatory approval.
Eczacıbası group chairman Bülent Eczacıbası said that the Eczacıbası Group aimed to expand more rapidly in world markets while maintaining the company’s leadership in Turkey.
“Since 1989, when Ipek Kagıt acquired an international partner, it has worked highly productively and compatibly with all its international partners,” he said.
“The primary sources of sustainable growth will be our innovative products and new geographies, supported by our continued leadership in quality.”
Ipek Kagıt operates a 105,000 tpy tissue mill in Yalova, northwestern Turkey, and two tissue converting plants: the Manisa plant in western Turkey and the Almaty plant in Kazakhstan.
NORWAY
Södra stops production at Folla mill
Södra has said it will stop production at its Södra Cell Folla pulp mill in Norway.
The mill supplies Chemi-Thermo- Mechanical-Pulp extensively into the tissue sector. Södra also said it has imposed a market shutdown at its Södra Cell Tofte pulp mill, also in Norway, from the beginning of week 50 in 2011.
“The market is being affected by the uncertainty caused by the effects of the debt crisis in Europe and the USA.” – Leif Brodén, Södra’s chief executive and group president
Tofte supplies limited NBSK volumes into the tissue sector.
The “market-driven” downtime is in response to a “weakened demand for pulp” as a consequence of international financial unrest, according to the business.
In addition, Södra Cell Mörrum in Blekinge took an extended maintenance shutdown for the same reason as of 19 November to 7 December inclusive.
A spokesman for the company said that Södra is ensuring it has sufficient stock available to cover anticipated demand.
Södra posts drop in profit Pulp producer Södra has said lower deliveries and greater market uncertainty have impacted on its third quarter results.
For January to September 2011, net profit was SEK 731m, down from SEK 2,009m the same time a year earlier. Operating profit was SEK 879m in 2011 compared with SEK 1,994m last year.
Södra said this was explained by higher timber costs, adverse exchange rate effects, lower delivery volumes and the fire at Södra Cell Mönsterås, combined with a weak market for sawn timber products.
Leif Brodén, Södra’s chief executive and group president, said: “The market is being affected by the uncertainty caused by the effects of the debt crisis in Europe and the USA.
“At the other end of the scale, we have globally high timber costs as a balancing factor. In addition, demand in Asia, and in particular in China, remains strong.”
“How quickly the uncertainty will reverse and the markets bottom out and head back up again, will be determined mainly by how the politicians continue to handle the debt crisis.” The pulp market was characterised by prices that remained buoyant, compared with historical levels.
Deliveries of pulp amounted to 1,374,000 tonnes. Södra’s pulp stock over the year has increased by 94,000 tonnes to 244,000 tonnes. Brodén added that the European market will remain weak over the next year, but with strong development in Asia offsetting this. “We are also seeing, for the first time in a long while, a certain change for the better on the North American market,” he said.
In April, Ulf Edman, president of Södra Cell International, said the company has been increasing its focus on the tissue sector. At the time, he said that tissue customers accounted for around 10% of Södra’s market pulp sales in 1999, but this figure is projected to rise to around 40% of sales by 2014.
