Papermaking is under further threat on both sides of the globe, with a UK company that recycles paper into newsprint among casualties.

More than 230 jobs are likely to have been lost from Aylesford Newsprint in Kent going into administration. Another 65 workers are staying on to help decommission the mill and sell assets.

Established in 1922, the mill produced more than 400,000 tones of recycled newsprint a year.

And Australian Paper is closing its specialist papers mill in Shoalhaven, with other mills in the Japanese-owned group apparently under threat. The closure is blamed on declining use of cheques and problems of scale and the use of converting machinery.

The mill had focussed on specialty and security papers such as cheque and watermark papers. Some 75 workers at the mill are directly affected.

The company says exact timing of the closure is yet to be finalised but production will cease during 2015.

Australian Paper has no connection with Norske Skog, which has newsprint and speciality paper mills in Australia.