The management of Kocani’s Paper Mill company announced it will close down and has already informed its 120 workers not to come to work. The factory faced serious public criticism and protests for polluting the city.

Management said that they are unable to switch to an alternative fuel source. “We came with a proposal to use wood pellets, but that was not acceptable to the environmental inspectors. They ordered us to switch to methane, but that is not economically viable”, said manager Igor Tasevski

The Bulgarian owned company had plans to expand with 60 new jobs and to invest up to five million EUR, but Tasevski said that these plans will not likely not be implemented. Kocani is Macedonia’s main rice growing region and has long produced paper. Paper Mill operated out of the old paper factory and its main product was cardboard.