MADAWASKA – Nexfor Fraser Papers is bucking a national trend by hiring workers for its paper production plant in the St. John Valley instead of having layoffs or production shutdowns.

The company, which already has more than 1,000 people in the Madawaska plant, is looking to hire 15 more people for entry level positions in the mill.

“This has been brought about by strategies started a long time ago,” Richard Arnold, vice president and manager of the Madawaska operations, said Thursday morning. “We developed diversified markets, and those are paying of for us now.

“These strategies have kept us at full production at least through the end of the year,” he said. “We forecast no down time at least through the end of the year.”

The paper production industry in Maine and across the country has been in a downturn through most of the year, causing shutdowns and paper mill closures.

The most recent announcement in Maine came Wednesday by Great Northern Paper Inc. of Millinocket, with a two-week production shutdown scheduled for Oct. 29.

Fraser, which had not hired production personnel between 1995 and last spring, hired 13 new workers in April and is advertising for 15 more new workers.

Arnold did admit that these are trying times for the paper industry. The economy, especially since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, has affected the entire industry and the markets of Fraser as well.

The company, which was a leader in the industry in the development of coated papers in the 1940s, has further engineered niches in the last decade. It has developed paper for pet food bags, coloring loads, liners and label papers. The company also has long been a producer of paper used in printing bibles.

Arnold said, however, that the economy is changing daily, and even the company’s capability of producing lightweight products can be affected by what goes on in the country and the world.

He said the company isn’t out of the mainstream of facing postal service problems, drops in the need of advertising papers, and the uncertainties of economics.

“There are all kinds of uncertainties out there,” the company official said. “We are fortunate to be able to meet customers’ needs quickly, because our customers, like others, are keeping inventories low.

“The general economy is not looking good,” Arnold said. “If it continues, it could hurt us as well as it has other companies.”

He said production at the Madawaska mill is full, at 100 percent or very close to it.