Kadant Receives Order for Approximately $4 Million of Stock-Preparation Equipment from China.

ACTON, Mass. -- Kadant Inc. (NYSE:KAI) has received an order for stock-preparation equipment valued at approximately $4 million from Zhejiang Ji'an Paper Packet Co., Ltd., a linerboard producer in China. The company's Kadant Black Clawson Inc. subsidiary will supply advanced recycling technologies to recover usable fiber from waste corrugated containers and prepare it for entry into a new linerboard machine.

"We are pleased to book this major order, which was one of several in our pipeline of orders from China awaiting financing approval," said William A. Rainville, chairman and chief executive officer of Kadant. "A new customer for us, Zhejiang Ji'an Paper's decision to purchase our stock-preparation technologies demonstrates that paper companies in China continue to look to Kadant to provide systems for critical applications in the papermaking process."

Kadant Black Clawson Inc., based in Mason, Ohio, is a leading fiberline process equipment supplier that designs, manufactures, and services equipment used in paper recycling, chemical pulping, and paper machine approach-flow applications.

Kadant Inc. is a leading supplier to the global pulp and paper industry, with a range of products and services for improving efficiency and quality in pulp and paper production, including paper machine accessories, and systems for stock preparation, fluid handling, and water management. Our fluid-handling products are also used to optimize production in the steel, rubber, plastics, food, and textile industries. In addition, the company produces granules from papermaking byproducts for agricultural and lawn and garden applications. Kadant is based in Acton, Massachusetts, and, with the addition of Kadant Johnson in May 2005, has revenues of approximately $270 million and approximately 1,500 employees worldwide. For more information, visit www.kadant.com.

The following constitutes a "Safe Harbor" statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: This press release contains forward-looking statements that involve a number of risks and uncertainties, including forward-looking statements regarding demand for our products in China. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated by such statements are set forth under the heading "Risk Factors" in Kadant's quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the period ended April 2, 2005. These include risks and uncertainties relating to our dependence on the pulp and paper industry; international sales and operations; competition; increase in our debt; restrictions in our credit agreement; our ability to successfully integrate Kadant Johnson; acquisition strategy; our ability to complete the proposed restructuring of our French subsidiary; ability to sell the composite building products business on favorable terms; ability to manufacture and distribute composite building products, and the economic conditions, seasonality in sales, and the long-term performance of such products; availability of raw materials and exposure to commodity price fluctuations related to the manufacture of composite and fiber-based products; protection of patents and proprietary rights; fluctuations in quarterly operating results; and anti-takeover provisions. We undertake no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.