Sonoco-Alcore S.a.r.l., the largest producer of coreboard and tubes and cores in Europe, today announced that it has started discussions to permanently close its Nordhorn, Germany, uncoated recycled paperboard (URB) mill, effective in April 2012, said Adam Wood, Vice President and General Manager Sonoco-Alcore Europe.
The mill located in northwest Germany has the capacity to produce 40,000 tonnes of heavyweight high strength coreboard that has principally been used for internal converting operations. The mill closure will impact 50 employees at the Nordhorn location.
"The Nordhorn mill has had a good operating history over many years driven by a strong workforce. This is a regrettable decision and the company has initiated discussions with the employee representatives regarding the closure and related social plan," said Wood.
"This decision reflects the lower market volumes we are experiencing today and the competitive conditions we expect will continue. We are focusing our investments into our much larger and wider mills. Nordhorn is our smallest mill and with escalating costs in energy, transportation and raw materials, in the long term it was impractical to continue operating this facility," he said. "Our remaining six paper machines in Europe have lower operating costs and have enough capacity to serve our internal converting operations as well as our trade customers in the URB market where we are one of the largest suppliers in Europe."
Sonoco-Alcore also announced that it will be investing nearly 6 million Euros over the next 18 months at its Schweighouse-Sur-Moder URB mill in France. The investments are primarily focused around energy, material and environmental efficiency.
"While the closure of Nordhorn is a difficult decision, the capital that we will spend in Schweighouse will turn it into one of the most efficient European mills in the industry. The Schweighouse mill is unique in its capability and its geographical position in the heart of Alsace region of Europe," said Dino Kiriakopoulos, Director - European Operations. "We will begin this investment during the summer and complete the program near the end of 2013."
Sonoco-Alcore S.a.r.l. is wholly-owned by Sonoco (NYSE:SON) and operates 29 tube and core plants and five paper mills on the European continent and in the United Kingdom.
