By Liz Beavers
lbeavers@newstribune.info
tribune managing editor
LUKE — A production cut announced this week by the NewPage Corporation will not affect the company’s Luke mill at this time, according to Shawn Hall, manager of external communications at NewPage.
Hall told the News-Tribune Friday that the cutback involves the production of light-weight coated ground wood — the type of paper used in magazines and catalogues.
“Luke does not make that type of paper,” she said. “This period of down time will not effect Luke mill.”
NewPage Chairman and CEO Mark A. Suwyn said the cutback comes as a result of “a declining and uncertain retail and
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business climate.
“Our customers, printers, magazine and book publishers and catalogers, are dealing with significant reductins in their busiesses and higher costs that, in turn, reduced demand for coated paper roughly 19 percent year over year.
“We have taken many steps to ensure we are making only what our customers need and not over-supplying the market.
Shuwyn said the down time would result in the reduction of approximately 40,000 tons of the specialty paper.
Rick Willett, NewPage president and chief operating officer, called the reduction “a short-term necessity.”
A day after announcing the reduction in production, NewPage reported a heavy loss in its third quarter earnings, citing a loss of $61 million, as compared to a profit of $16 million a year ago.
“During the third quarter, we closed our paper operations in Kimberly and Niagara, WI,” Willet said. “When business softened significantly during the second quarter, we focused on operating the rest of the NewPage mills in the most cost-effective manner possible without losing our ability to deliver the high-quality products our customers have come to expect.
“Our workforce is actively engaged in doing everything they can to achieve efficiencies and conserve resources,” he said. “All of these actions enable us to manage through this weak market while providing a platform for more favorable results as the market recovers.”
He hopes the decline in prices of crude oil will positively affect the company’s profits.
“Many chemicals used in the paper-making process are petroleum based an d fluctuate with the price of crude oil,” he said.
Headquartered in Miamisburg, OH, NewPage is the largest coated paper manufacturer in North America.
Luke’s mill employs approximately 1,000 persons, with 57 of those being hired just in the last yaer, according to Public Relations Manager Patsy Koontz.
