Bowater Curtails Paper Production at Thunder Bay Mill

Greenville, South Carolina, USA, 06 September 2006 -- (Canada NewsWire via COMTEX News Network) -- Bowater Incorporated (NYSE: BOW) today announced its decision to curtail paper production at its Thunder Bay, Ontario, site in Canada. During this outage, the site will continue its pulp production.

"Overall demand for market pulp remains strong, which is encouraging," said David J. Paterson, president and chief executive officer. "However, the continued decline in consumption of North American newsprint, coupled with high manufacturing costs at Thunder Bay, including energy and fiber, as well as the overall strength of the Canadian dollar, are factors in the decision to curtail this site's paper machines."

The curtailment will begin 16 September and is expected to continue for a minimum of 15 days. Up to 320 employees at Thunder Bay will be affected by the outage. Thunder Bay's pulp mill, woodyard, and forest operations will continue to operate during the curtailment. Bowater's newsprint and specialty papers customers will be served via other company locations.

Bowater's Thunder Bay site is located on the Kaministiquia River in Ontario. Its products include newsprint, market pulp, and specialty paper. In addition to three paper machines, the Thunder Bay site includes a kraft pulp mill, thermomechanical pulp mill, recycling plant, multi-fuel biomass boiler, and a cogeneration plant.

Bowater Incorporated, headquartered in Greenville, South Carolina, is a leading producer of coated and specialty papers and newsprint. In addition, the company sells bleached market pulp and lumber products. Bowater employs approximately 7800 people and has 12 pulp and paper mills in the United States, Canada, and South Korea. In North America, it also owns two converting facilities and 10 sawmills. Bowater's operations are supported by approximately 857,000 acres of timberlands owned or leased in the United States and Canada and 28 million acres of timber cutting rights in Canada. Bowater operates six recycling plants and is one of the world's largest consumers of recycled newspapers and magazines. Bowater common stock is listed on the New York Stock Exchange and the Pacific Exchange. A special class of stock exchangeable into Bowater common stock is listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX: BWX). To learn more, visit www.bowater.com.

Source: Bowater Incorporated