Toronto, Ontario, Canada, 16 February 2009 -- (Marketwire) -- Fraser Papers Inc. (TSX:FPS) announced today that it will take two weeks of market-related downtime at its pulp mill operations in Edmundston, New Brunswick, effective 23 February 2009. The Edmundston pulp mill produces sulfite and groundwood pulp for the company's integrated paper mill in Madawaska, Maine, USA, where the company continues to rotate downtime across its six specialty paper machines to match customer orders with production. The company's ability to meet customer requirements is unaffected by this announcement. The Edmundston biomass cogeneration facility will operate through this period, providing steam to the paper mill and electrical power to the New Brunswick grid.

Fraser Papers also announced it will take market-related downtime at its 250,000 metric tons/year hardwood kraft pulp mill in Thurso, Quebec. The shutdown will allow the mill to balance its pulp inventory with customer order requirements. Fraser Papers plans to close the mill 02 March 2009, and will serve its customers from existing inventories during the shutdown. The mill shutdown is expected to last up to eight weeks, but may be extended depending on market conditions and customer demand.

Fraser Papers is an integrated specialty paper company that produces a broad range of specialty packaging and printing papers. The company has operations in New Brunswick and Quebec in Canada and in Maine and New Hampshire in  the United States. Fraser Papers is listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange; additional information is available at  www.fraserpapers.com.