A Japanese paper company is suing the Victorian government for $402 million, alleging they broke an agreement to provide a steady supply of native timber to their white paper mill in the Latrobe Valley.

Opal, part of the Nippon Paper Group, on Monday revealed it had lodged Supreme Court action against the state and were asking for significant compensation.

The company operates the Maryvale Mill in the Latrobe Valley, one of the biggest sources of employment in the region, which in 2023 shut down its white paper operations, the last of its kind in Australia.

An agreement was signed with the mill’s previous owners, Amcor, in 1996 – and subsequently transferred to Opal – in which the Victorian government would supply Maryvale with pulpwood until 2030.

VicForests, the now defunct state-own

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