Monday, December 14, 2015 10:30 am

CHINA -- Orient Paper, Inc., a manufacturer and distributor of diversified paper products in North China, said it will temporarily suspend its production of regular CMP, light weight CMP, offset printing paper and digital photo paper from December 14, 2015 to December 31, 2015.

The company said that the suspension of production is in accordance with a mandate issued by Xushui Environmental Protection Bureau of Baoding City. The mandate reflects the Chinese government's stepped-up anti-smog efforts in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, Shandong, Henan and Shanxi provinces following Beijing's first red alert for smog last week.

The red alert, the most serious level under a four-tier emergency response system created in October 2013, has triggered shutdown of schools, highways and construction activities from 7 a.m. on Tuesday December 8 to noon on Thursday December 10.

Orient Paper noted that the temporary suspension of production will not impact its tissue paper operations, which are located in the Economic Development Zone of Wei County, Hebei Province. The company will resume production of impacted products on January 1, 2016.