Sofidel has signed off on a roughly $775 million expansion at its Inola, Oklahoma tissue mill, a project that will bring in a 75,000 tonnes-per-year Valmet Through-Air-Drying (TAD) machine, additional converting lines and a fully automated finished-goods warehouse. The company says it will add about 1 million square feet of new buildings at the Inola site and is targeting a machine start-up in the second quarter of 2028. Plans call for laser-guided vehicles to shuttle parent reels and an automated loading system tied directly into the new warehouse. Sofidel is pitching the build as the latest move in a fast-paced U.S. growth run that has leaned on acquisitions and recent machine start-ups, as reported by ACCESS Newswire.
What Sofidel Will Build
In a press release distributed via ACCESS Newswire, Sofidel said the Inola project will house the 75,000 tonnes-per-year Valmet TAD machine along with matching converting capacity. The finished-goods warehouse is planned for roughly 100,000 pallet positions and will use E80 technology. The internal logistics package, which includes laser-guided vehicles and automated loading, is described by the company as central to its effort to supply more premium and private-label tissue to North American retailers.
Local Money And The TIF Deal
On the public side, Inola officials have already moved to line up support. The town board voted on Jan. 12 to create a tax-increment financing district that would capture new tax revenue tied to the mill expansion, according to coverage in the Claremore Daily Progress reported via Yahoo. That reporting says the TIF could channel roughly $15 million in incremental property and sales tax back into the project area over the next decade, with portions of the money earmarked for roads, fire stations and school improvements. Local officials told the paper that the financing package helped make placing the expansion at the Port of Inola more feasible.
How This Fits Into Sofidel’s U.S. Push
Sofidel has framed the Inola plan as one piece of a broader North American build-out that also includes its November 2024 purchase of Clearwater Paper’s tissue division, as detailed on Sofidel. The company recently started up a 70,000-tonne Valmet DCT line at its Circleville, Ohio mill in September 2025, a project Valmet covered in a press release.
Timeline, Tech And Capacity
Industry reporting says the new TAD line in Inola is designed for premium through-air-dried grades and is slated to start commercial production in the second quarter of 2028, according to Lesprom. The company has also noted that the Inola expansion will plug into a U.S. footprint that already spans multiple production sites and that it maintains a North American corporate office in Horsham, Pennsylvania, as described in its ACCESS Newswire announcement.
Legal Note
Sofidel’s U.S. growth has also run through the courts. In 2025 the company used a stalking-horse asset purchase agreement to acquire Royal Paper’s U.S. assets, a Chapter 11 sale that added a paper mill in Gila Bend, Arizona, and three converting sites, industry reporting shows. Observers say that route allowed Sofidel to pick up capacity quickly while offering continuity for some Royal Paper employees.
For Inola residents and county officials, the near-term questions center on permits, road and utility upgrades and any hiring commitments tied to construction. Sofidel’s public announcement focused on capacity, automation and logistics and did not include a specific jobs estimate for the Inola build, according to industry coverage of the company’s statement.
