Catalyst Paper (TSX:CTL) boss Kevin Clarke said recent record pulp prices were a “bright spot” for his company during the second quarter, despite two major fires.
The Richmond-based pulp and paper company, which employs more than 1,000 people at mills in the U.S. and Canada, lost $70.5 million in the first six months of 2011 compared with 2010.
Clarke said although higher pulp prices helped the company generate stronger revenue, the continued strength of the loonie has offset the company’s ability to cash in on those prices.
“That has been one of the headwinds we’ve had to face,” Clarke told Business in Vancouver. “Right now, I think it’s trading almost at par, which is good for us, our third and fourth quarters are trading very strong.”
He added that Catalyst has “done a lot of maintenance and spent a lot of additional [time] to get the operation back in great strength. Unfortunately, in the second quarter we had two sizable fires that knocked us out of business for the equivalent of about 31,000 tonnes.”
Fires at Catalyst’s Arizona and Powell River mills cost the company a significant chunk of change in the second quarter, but Clarke believes the headwinds his company faces are manageable.
Check out next week’s edition of BIV for more about Catalyst.
Joel McKay
Twitter:jmckaybiv