Pulp prices put mill into “warm idle”

AV Terrace Bay pulp mill (File Photo/Acadia Broadcasting)

400 employees at the pulp mill in Terrace Bay have been laid off following the temporary idling of the facility’s operations effective yesterday.

In a release AV Terrace Bay, part of the Aditya Birla group, announced the measures were due to prevailing market conditions.

However, the company says the mill, which is one of three remaining active pulp mills in Northwestern Ontario, is being put in a state of “warm idle”, so if the market rebounds, it would allow for a possible restart in the future.

The facility is capable of producing 320,000 air dry metric tonnes of Northern Bleached Softwood Kraft pulp annually.

According to Natural Resources Canada by October of 2023, prices for NBSK pulp in US dollars had dropped to just under $1400/Tonne.