RUMFORD — NewPage Corp.’s announcement that it would cut production by another 160,000 tons of paper in the fourth quarter of 2009 will not affect its local mill, according to a spokeswoman.

Janet Hall said there were no immediate plans to restart the No. 10 paper machine, which was idled in September to help reduce company-wide production .

The third quarter report, issued last week, shows that the production and selling price for coated paper have declined compared to the same period in 2008. Sales dipped from 893,000 tons last year to 708,000 tons this year; the selling price dropped from $1,005 per ton to $891.

For the first quarter of 2009, NewPage produced 588,000 tons at a sales price of $975 per ton. Production was cut by 149,000 tons. For the second quarter, 601,000 tons were produced at a sales price of $931 per ton. Production was cut by 161,000 tons.

Fewer than expected layoffs have taken place at the local mill since an announcement to let about 100 employees go earlier in the year. Hall wouldn’t reveal the number of people who have been laid off from the mill. However, a Local 900 union official said last month that 33 people have lost their jobs.

Some of those people originally slated to lose their jobs are being used to make preparations to start up the ground wood and long log operations, which have been closed since the beginning of the year. Those operations unload and chip logs that are then sent to the No. 15 and No. 10 papermaking machines.

Hall would not announce a startup date. About
30 to 35 employees are needed for those operations.

She said the decision to reopen those departments was made because the in-house operation is believed to be more cost-effective now.

The No. 15 and No. 12 paper machines are operating seven days a week, 24 hours a day, she said. During the past year, the No. 15 machine has experienced shutdowns or partial shutdowns and rolling layoffs.

The market decline for coated paper into the third quarter continued to reflect less advertising, NewPage President and Chief Executive Officer Richard D. Willett Jr. said in a press release. However, he said that as customers’ inventories are being depleted and the postal service’s volume incentives for cataloguers have kicked in, the company is experiencing some seasonal strengthening.

“We believe as the U.S. economy recovers, so will our paper volume,” he said.

All mills in the NewPage system have experienced cutbacks. In addition to the Rumford mill, the Miamisburg, Ohio, company also owns mills in Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin, and Nova Scotia, Canada.

[email protected]