On June 22, the Board of Directors of the Norwegian group Norske Skog definitively validated the conversion of the newsprint machine at its French mill located in Golbey in the Vosges. With an investment of 250 million euros, the site, which employs 350 people, will have an annual production capacity of 550,000 tons of paper for corrugated board (PPO) on this machine 1 (PM1) and still 330,000 tons of newsprint on the PM2.
Norske Skog Golbey will use only recycled fiber to make its two types of paper. The paper mill currently recycles 450,000 tons of recovered paper per year, and will need an additional 610,000 tons of waste cardboard.
This second conversion project of the - from newsprint to paperboard for packaging - received "funding commitments from banks located in the Nordic countries and Europe", sven Ombudstvedt, CEO of Norske Skog, says that the group will cover the remaining 175 million euros.
The French plant in Golbey and the one in Bruck in Austria - which is expected to begin new production in the fourth quarter of 2022 - will together supply 760,000 tons of lightweight paperboard for cardboard boxes produced from green energy and 100% recycled materials. "The packaging business will become an important part of Norske Skog's business in the future." says the head of the paper group, which has six plants.
"This conversion is part of a diversification strategy to offset the structural and cyclical downturns that the newsprint market has experienced for years. It will thus enable us to rebalance supply and demand" says Norske Skog, which intends to " to maintain its current 350 jobs and create about 20 more by 2026.
This project announced in June 2020 must still receive environmental authorization from the prefecture, which will rule on the basis of a public inquiry by the end of the summer.
At the same time, Norske Skog Golbey is preparing the execution phase by finalizing the technical bids to allow the start of the works during the first quarter of 2022. The production of recycled paperboard will start in the fourth quarter of 2023. Full production - 550,000 tons of testliner and low-weight fluting - should be reached in the second half of 2026.
This decision coincides with the June 28 meeting between Norske Skog's CEO and the French President at the Choose France Summit in Versailles, dedicated to foreign investors.
