This month in forestry-related industry news.
Plum Creek Timber has acquired 501,000 acres of timberland in the US South. Plum Creek bought the property from MeadWestvaco for $1.1 billion, or $2,195 per acre. About the acquisition, Plum Creek’s CEO Rick Holley said this: “These timberlands have a long history of excellent forest management. The high stocking levels and older age of the timberlands make them particularly attractive. Harvests from the newly acquired land are estimated to average nearly 3 million tons annually over the next 10 years. That is a 15 percent increase from recent levels.
The Campbell Group has acquired 23,000 acres of timberland in Mississippi from Hancock Timber Resource Group for $47 million, or $2,050 per acre. The sale took place in 2Q2013.
Resource Management Service sold 24,000 acres of timberland in Arkansas and Louisiana to two separate private buyers for an average price of $1,460 per acre.
Molpus Woodlands Group will acquire 73,000 acres of timberland situated north, east and west of Birmingham, Alabama in stages beginning in October for an undisclosed client. Located in 13 counties, the timberland includes well-stocked loblolly pine plantations spread among all age classes. No pricing information was provided.
Manufacturing Facilities
Maple Land and Timber will construct a new sawmill at its American Land and Timber operation near Baldwyn, Mississippi. The mill will produce lumber for export. The expansion will cost $1.95 million and create 38 jobs.
Georgia-Pacific will invest $9 million at its Dudley, North Carolina lumber operations to increase its production capacity. Completion is expected by 2Q2014.
Georgia-Pacific will also close its Color-Box corrugated packaging facility in Harrington, Delaware by the end of this year. The company said it would consolidate production at other packaging facilities in Indiana and Mississippi. Also scheduled for closure is G-P’s softboard sheathing plant in Jarratt, Virginia; production will be consolidated with another facility in Diboll, Texas. Both the Jarratt and Diboll facilities have been operating at 50 percent capacity.
Sierra Pacific Industries will rebuild its large-log sawmill in Quincy, California. The existing mill will be taken down and reconfigured. The small-log mill as well as the planer and cogeneration plant will continue to operate during construction. Downtime is expected to last 8-10 months.
International Paper is accelerating the pace at which it plans to close its coated and uncoated freesheet paper mill in Courtland, Alabama. The mill will shut down its first two paper machines in November 2013 and end its production of coated freesheet. The complete closure is scheduled for mid-1Q2014. Production is expected to be consolidated at two uncoated freesheet mills in Eastover, South Carolina and Riverdale, Alabama and two specialty paper mills in Georgetown, South Carolina and Ticonderoga, New York.
Pratt Industries announced plans to build a $260 million recycled containerboard mill in Valparaiso, Indiana at a site adjacent to one of the world’s largest box plants. Upon completion, the mill will produce 360,000 tons of 100 percent recycled paper for a total production capacity of 1.5 million tons.
Suz-Anne Kinney
Forest2Market: July 14, 2023
