PORTLAND, Maine — The Madison paper mill stopped production May 21, ending employment at the mill for 214 people and marking the state’s fifth major paper mill closure in the past three years.
The mill’s owner, UPM-Kymmene Inc., announced Tuesday the official closure. The mill was capable of producing 195,000 tons of supercalendered paper, used in color printing applications, such as magazines, catalogs, coupons and directories.
The company has not said what will become of the mill and has been trying to find a buyer for it and two connected hydropower plants capable of generating about 27 megawatts of power.
In its March announcement of the closure, Ruud van den Berg, the company’s senior vice president of the company’s Europe and North America divisions, said it “lost a significant amount of sales in the recent past” as it became less competitive on price in a market where demand has dropped steadily.
The announcement comes after Madison and Verso Corp. successfully petitioned federal trade officials for tariffs on Canadian imports of supercalendered paper, a determination that helped employees to qualify for federal assistance to help them transition to new jobs or careers but was not enough to turn the business around.
The company in 2015 faced a near doubling of supercalendered paper imports from Canada, while the Canadian dollar also dropped sharply.
The closure leaves six mills processing raw wood fiber still operating in the state, including Sappi’s Westbrook and Skowhegan mills, Catalyst’s Rumford mill, Verso’s Jay mill, International Grand Investment Corp.’s Woodland Pulp and St. Croix Tissue mills and Twin Rivers’ Madawaska mill.