Abitibi-Consolidated first registered under CSA Sustainable Forest Management Standard in Ontario, Quebec and Newfoundland - Additional 4.2 Million Hectares to be Certified A (TSX) ABY (NYSE) MONTREAL, Oct. 27 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Abitibi-Consolidated Inc. (TSX: A; NYSE: ABY) today announced that its Fort William, Ontario Woodlands Division has received certification under the Sustainable Forest Management (SFM) Standard of the Canadian Standards Association (CSA). The Fort William registration will certify 800,000 hectares of public forestland in Ontario. CSA certification is a voluntary process designed to demonstrate a commitment to SFM and continual improvement in forest management performance. The certification process requires that independent experts audit the Company's performance against a set of objective standards and procedures for sustainability, including a structured public consultation and involvement process. The Quality Management Institute (QMI) conducted Abitibi- Consolidated's third party audits on the Fort William, Quebec-West and Newfoundland Woodlands Divisions and recommended that each division's environmental management system be registered under the CSA SFM Standard. The Company's Quebec-West and Newfoundland Woodlands Divisions have also been recommended by auditors for certification under the SFM standard of the CSA, and the process of issuing the registration certificates for these divisions is currently under way. The Fort William, Quebec-West and Newfoundland certifications will add 4.2 million hectares to the existing 1.6 million hectares of Abitibi-Consolidated forests already registered under the CSA standard, for a total of 5.8 million hectares. "The certification of these woodland divisions demonstrates Abitibi- Consolidated's commitment to implement sustainable forest management standards in all of the Company's North American facilities by the end of 2005," stated John Weaver, President and CEO of Abitibi-Consolidated. "These results are a testimony that our forest management practices are sustainable for the long run. Abitibi-Consolidated is proud of its continued industry leadership in achieving third-party certification." Abitibi-Consolidated was the first forest products company to have been recommended for CSA SFM certification in Quebec. The recommendation for the Newfoundland Woodlands Division is also the first of its kind in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador. Other previous certifications, such as that of the Company's Fort Frances Woodland Division were also a first in Ontario. Abitibi-Consolidated is the world's leading producer of newsprint and value-added paper as well as a major producer of wood products, generating sales of $5.1 billion in 2002. With 16,000 employees, the Company does business in more than 70 countries. Responsible for the forest management of 18 million hectares, Abitibi-Consolidated is committed to the sustainability of the natural resources in its care. The Company is also the world's largest recycler of newspapers and magazines, serving 17 metropolitan areas with more than 10,000 Paper Retriever(R) collection points. Abitibi-Consolidated operates 27 paper mills, 21 sawmills, 3 remanufacturing facilities and 1 engineered wood facility in Canada, the US, the UK, South Korea, China and Thailand. DATASOURCE: ABITIBI-CONSOLIDATED INC. CONTACT: Investors: Lorne Gorber, Manager, Investor Relations, (514) 394-2360, ; Media: Marc Osborne, Manager, Corporate Communications and Media Relations, (514) 394-2340,

Copyright