135 jobs to go with mill closure

Company turnover in 2004/5 was £1.6bn, 60% from the UK

A south Wales village paper mill is to close at the end of May with the loss of 135 jobs.

DS Smith, the owner of Sudbrook Mill in Monmouthshire, has blamed soaring energy costs and a drop in demand for the proposed closure.

The firm said the mill was losing £3m annually after fuel bills more than doubled over the last three years.

The mill produces approximately 150,000 tonnes of a speciality form of cardboard casing every year.

Made from recycled paper and wood pulp, the product is mainly used to make boxes and trays but demand has fallen as customers switch to a lower cost paper.

Redundancy

The firm said it would try to help its employees to find new jobs and an estimated third of the £22m closure costs would be given in redundancy payments and other cash costs.

Local councillor Peter Fox said it was a huge blow for the area, with the mill offering a variety of jobs, many of them highly skilled.

Mr Fox said generations of families had worked there since it opened in the 1950s and most of them lived in the area.

The company currently has six mills and is the leading UK producer of recycled paper.

Three-quarters of its output is used in the construction of corrugated boxes and trays.

The firm began in 1940, as David S Smith, manufacturing folding cartons in Neath.

It now has a total turnover of about £1.6bn and employs about 11,900 people, of whom 7,500 are in the UK.

It has operations in France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Belgium, Ireland, Poland, Turkey, Czech Republic, USA and New Zealand.