AUSTRALIA (From news reports) -- One of the Australia's largest paper and packaging companies has told workers it plans to cut 220 jobs across its Australian and New Zealand businesses.

Opal is the local subsidiary of Japanese paper giant Nippon and runs a paper production mill at Maryvale in Victoria's Latrobe Valley.

It also operates a stationery manufacturer in the Melbourne suburb of Preston and has a site in Botany, New South Wales, which produces container board.

The announcement comes after 200 jobs were cut at the company's Maryvale mill when it ceased white paper production in December 2022.

In a statement to staff Opal chief executive Chris Nagaura blamed the decision to axe the jobs on "a series of unplanned challenges", including COVID-19 and rising energy costs.

He also said "market disruptions" from the company's decision to cease white paper production at the Maryvale site were "continuing to severely impact Opal's financial performance".

"Compounding this, unnecessary complexity and inefficiency exists across Opal," Mr Nagaura said in the statement.

According to the statement, the measures to improve Opal's performance will affect the entire company.

An Opal spokesperson said the company was reviewing its "organisation structure across salaried roles" as a result of challenges that had affected its profitability.

"There will be no impact on Opal's customers from these changes," the spokesperson said in a statement.

"Opal is committed to fully supporting our valued team members as we work through this transition."

The statement did not address which parts of the business would be affected by the cuts.

Opal is one of the Latrobe Valley's largest private employers and still manufactures brown paper products at Maryvale.

It is unclear which parts of the business will be affected, but unions representing staff at the Maryvale mill believe some jobs will be lost at the site.