The largest paper mill in Minnesota is now churning out a type of pulp used to make textiles.
In a hopeful sign for the state's forest industries, Sappi Fine Paper in Cloquet announced this week that its $170 million conversion to making pulp for clothing has been successful. The mill in September reached its daily goal of producing 1,050 tons of what's known as chemical cellulose.
The pulp, which is the hottest forest industry product on the market, is generally sold to textile mills in Asia, blended with other materials and made into thread. Fast-growing demand for the product has outlined one possible future for a forestry industry struggling with the terminal decline of the paper market.
"What it really is is a new beginning for Minnesota forests," said Rick Dwyer, Sappi's plant manager in Cloquet. "It's something that clearly is headed in the opposite direction of paper."
Worldwide demand for chemical cellulose is projected to increase 50 percent by 2017, according to RBC Capital Markets, and plants around the world are adding capacity as demand for paper continues to sink.
Work on the project in Cloquet began in 2011 and the plant's customers first started receiving chemical cellulose — also called dissolving pulp — in August. The mill will continue to make high-end paper using pulp from other mills. It could still swing back to producing kraft pulp for paper if the market shifts dramatically, but has no plans to do so, Dwyer said.
At peak construction, 1,100 workers were working on the mill's conversion, with 41 contractors totaling more than 550,000 man hours, the company said.
City, county and business leaders in Cloquet toured the plant Wednesday, once Sappi's fiscal year had ended and company officials felt comfortable announcing that the conversion had been a success.