<b>Norske Taking More Pulp Downtime</b>

Norske Skog Canada has announced it will reduce pulp production at its pulp mill in British Columbia by an additional 20,000-25,000 metric tons during the next three months to better balance output with orders in the face of continuing lower demand for market pulp.

The planned curtailment in the first quarter is in addition to the 50,000 metric tons in capacity reduction that the company took in the last quarter of 2000.

The company said it will distribute the curtailment over its three manufacturing operations based on the nature of customer orders, mill operating rates and inventories.

The announcement follows Bowater’s announcement earlier this week that it will be taking downtime through its system to bring supply and demand back into balance.

Over the past several months a number of other pulp producers have opted to take excess capacity off line. This move is anticipation of  Norscan pulp producers pushing through market pulp price increases this year.