Despite a 30 percent decrease in net sales for the quarter, a boost in orders has NewPage officials confident the papermaker will not need to take as much downtime in the fourth quarter as previously announced.

Coated-paper orders have increased every month since February to 663,000 tons in September, which together with projected price increases could mean fewer shutdowns, President and Chief Executive Officer Rick Willett said Tuesday.

"The majority of this improvement is primarily due to our customers not relying on their current inventory," Willett said during the company's third-quarter earnings conference call. "The downtimes we expected for the fourth quarter are likely to be lower."

On Oct. 12, the Miamisburg, Ohio-based papermaker announced it would take 160,000 tons worth of downtime in the fourth quarter, including the indefinite shutdown of the No. 63 paper machine at its Whiting mill, which company officials said will affect as many as 100 people starting in mid-December.

NewPage's Wisconsin operations include mills in Wisconsin Rapids, Biron, Whiting and Stevens Point, as well as its research and development headquarters in Biron.

Net sales for the third quarter, which ended Sept. 30, were $791 million, compared with $1.1 billion during the same period last year, according to the company's financial results, also released Tuesday. Willett attributed the decline in demand to a parallel decrease in advertising spending and magazine and catalog circulation.

NewPage also posted a $138 million net loss for the quarter, attributing it primarily to $133 million in refinancing charges, compared with a $61 million net loss for the same three-month period in 2008.

The financial results come four days after the International Trade Commission unanimously approved a full investigation into unfair trade complaints NewPage and others filed Sept. 23, alleging imports from Chinese and Indonesian paper companies caused harm to the domestic industry.

Meanwhile, increased productivity and reduced input costs -- a result of the company's continued Lean Six Sigma efforts -- and $86 million in federal fuel tax credits have helped to offset some of those losses, Willett said.