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Longview Adds Workers

Longview Fibre Paper and Packaging Co., Longview, Wash., which shed 40 percent of its work force over the last two years, has hired about 25 workers due to improving sales, company officials said this week.

The company plans to add an additional 20 workers by the end of the year, says COO Randy Nebel.

The Longview mill employs about 1,020 people, up from the roughly 1,000 employees at the beginning of the year. Fibre employed about 1,700 in 2007 when the company was bought by Toronto-based Brookfield Management Associates.

Of the 25 workers added, about 20 are former Fibre workers laid off earlier, Nebel says.

“The amount of money that we’re putting into sales and marketing is much more significant than it ever has been at Longview Fibre Paper and Packaging, and it’s starting to pay off,” Nebel says.

Orders for containerboard have jumped in the last four months, especially in California, he says.

Fibre’s newest product, a stronger paper used for cement bags called Fibre Shield, is selling well domestically, Nebel said. The company is dipping its toes into markets in developing countries in Asia, Europe and Africa, where construction is expected to rebound more quickly, he said.

For the rest of the summer, Fibre should be busy filling orders, but the long-term outlook is harder to predict, Nebel said.

“The market appears to have gotten better, but we don’t know if it’s a (long-term) move or that our customers’ inventory have gotten so low they need to order more.”

Analysts say companies are for now only restocking their inventory of packaging supplies.

“When you have a massive de-stock, you have to restock at some point,” says Paul Latta, a forest-products industry analyst for Seattle-based McAdams Wright Ragen.

The economy also is showing small signs of improvement, and housing construction typically picks up in the summer, says Steve Chercover, a Portland-based forest-products industry analyst for D.A. Davidson.

“We’re building more homes than we were in February,” Chercover says.

Because of the weak U.S. dollar, Fibre’s products are more attractive in foreign markets, he adds.