Caraustar Industries, Inc. just announced that it is permanently closing its paperboard mill in Charlotte, North Carolina. The mill, which produced uncoated recycled boxboard, has been idle since December. Caraustar will record a pre-tax charge of  $9.7 million, with $7.3 million of that amount being non-cash, in conjunction with the closure. Closing the mill is expected to save the company $11.4 million per year before taxes.

Greg Bartlett, vice president of the sales Mill Group, commented on the closure in a company press release:

"In December, we announced that we were idling the Carolina Paperboard mill and would monitor demand in order to determine whether it was feasible to resume production at the facility. In this increasingly challenging economic environment, it is not economically prudent to resume paperboard production or to continue to keep the paper machine idle. Our focus continues to be on our customers. We are committed to providing superior customer service."