UPM’s Steyrermühl mill in Austria will be converted from newsprint to kraft paper production when it is taken over by Heinzel Group.
After announcing its plan to take over the mill last June, Heinzel has confirmed it will run the mill from 1 January 2024. It will then enter the market with a range of bleached and unbleached kraft papers shortly after.
Austrian equipment manufacturer Andritz will begin the process of converting the mill to produce 150,000 tonnes of brown and white low-grammage kraft papers per year marketed under its STARKRAFT brand.
The mill currently uses some recycled content in its production, but Heinzel has not confirmed if this will remain the case following the conversion.
Heinzel Group chief operating officer Werner Hartmann said: “With this investment, STARKRAFT will become the world’s leading brand for bleached and unbleached Kraft papers.
“We are excited to expand our product portfolio for all relevant packaging segments, especially for so-called flexpack and food applications.”
