A few Words from Barclay's Paper Analyst

From a Pulp and Paper Week Report
Barclay's Capital analyst, Peter Ruschmeier, estimated US uncoated mechanical paper (groundwood containing paper used in inserts, paperback books, and certain magazines) is to increase 22.6% in 2010; coated freesheet to rise 14.4%; coated mechanical (publication papers) to be up 13.2%; market pulp up 2.0%; and uncoated freesheet up 1.1%; with newsprint down 7.2%. Many industry observers feel that demand will increase in 2010 and rising costs will squeeze margins. Most pulp, paper, and board producers will focus on raising selling prices to offset margin pressure.

Coy Paper might take some exception with the aggressive growth figures on both uncoated and coated groundwood papers as well as coated free sheet. Unless advertising dramatically improves, I would be hard pressed to forecast a growth of even half these figures. We DO agree that mills will attempt to increase pricing (for all grades) throughout the year in an effort to stay ahead of the cost curve.

Finally, Some Good News for Magazines

After a punishing first half of 2009 for magazine sales at the newsstand, many of the industry’s biggest newsstand sellers witnessed sales declines begin to at least level out in the second half of the year.

Single copy sales declined 12.4% in the first six months of the year. It should be noted that results were partly affected by a disruption in the wholesaler delivery chain which led to delays in getting issues to stores. The challenging economy is also at blamed for a decline in single-copy sales.

In the second half, though, single-copy sales declines narrowed for big newsstand sellers like People, In Style, Glamour, Family Circle and Cosmopolitan.

Not all shared in the improvement. Good Housekeeping’s newsstand sales fell nearly 30% on top of a 17.7% decline in the first half. Vogue was down 15% and Men’s Health, 14%.

Printers Beware of Continued Pressure for 2010

Dr. Joe Webb, director of Economics and Research Center, said “2009 was a tough year for printers, and the trend of displacing print with new media by retailers and others continues. The longer the slow economic times last, the more entrenched these new media budget allocations will be.” Dr. Webb emphasized that print businesses will continue to be under pressure to merge and consolidate because of these shifts. “The most successful print businesses had specialized equipment and processes that were targeted to the exact needs of those markets, such as magazines, catalogs, and newspaper inserts. The higher profits those organizations enjoyed for many years were the rewards they had for concentrating on those niches. It wasn't until those niches started to contract that the printers realized that specialization had risks, which were often underestimated, that quickly eliminated those rewards.”
Total Shipments for printers for 2009 for Year are $88 Billion

Top Printers for the USA Government

The USA Government Printing Office (GPO) awarded bids to more than 1800 printers in 2009 for $425Million (down from $421Million in 2008). Top five include
NPC (News Printing) $29.3Million
RRDonnelly $27.0Million
Monarch $19.5Million
Gateway Press $17.5Million
SourceLink $16Million

Time Magazine Down

Time Warner reported that its publishing unit, Time Inc., generated $3.7 million in revenue in 2009, down 19% from 2008. Those losses were fueled largely by a 22% or $541 million decline in advertising revenue. Meanwhile, subscription revenues declined 13% for the year and other revenues fell 24%.

Standard and Poors Outlines Slow Recovery for Paper Industry


S&P recently generated a report that outlined a slow recovery for companies involved with USA forest products. 
The document reviews a slight improvement in outlooks for 60% of forest sector companies. This report is titled “The US Forest Products Sector is Entering a Slow Recovery” and says that the positive trend reflects significant debt reduction that these companies achieved, despite poor economic conditions. They believe that the economy and housing markets have hit bottom and that the sector’s credit profile will improve over the next few quarters.
I, on the other hand, am not as bullish, especially if one is focused on the pulp and paper segment of the forest products industry. There will be some improvement, assuming the economy picks up, but debt reduction will be a challenge.

International Paper Posts Loss - Domtar Reports Profit

The International Paper Company, the world's largest pulp and paper producer, reported a loss for the forth quarter of $101million due to a decline in sales. The Industrial Packaging unit dragged down the balance of the corporation, posting a loss of $391Million.
Meanwhile, Domtar experienced strong pulp sales and benefited from recent pulp price increases. The company announced a profit of $124Million for the forth quarter (compare to a loss of $676Million 4Q2008).

AF&PA Reports on December Paper Shipments

As announced by AF&PA Report
In December, paper output in the USA was 2.9Million tons, up 3.3%, yet for the year, paper output was down 13%. Coated paper improved 12.8% for the month, but was down 18.7% for the year. Uncoated mechanical grades increased 1.4% in December, but dropped 20.5% for the year. Uncoated freesheet was up 1.9% for the month and down 11.1% for the year. This is the second consecutive month of increased output vs. 2008.

R.H. Donnelley is Now Dex One

R.H. Donnelley changed their name to Dex One and also announced it will emerge from Chapter 11. The 124-year-old local business directory publisher and marketing company also provides business search engines and pay-per-click networks. The new name will tie into their search website dexknows.com. The company is attempting to rebrand itself as a search engine company.

Paper Industry in North America

The paper industry continues to produce fewer tons each year. Not a healthy trend!

The last decade has not been friendly for the North American packaging paper producers, considering the demand peaked in 1999 at nearly 56Million tons. Several believe the market will have fallen below 46Million tons in 2009, when the final numbers come out. Meanwhile, the producers for graphic papers last witnessed very good growth in 1970 and the 80s and than 90s- but the market topped out at 50Million tons in 2000. In 2001, the demand fell to about 46Million tons – and managed to stay at this level until 2007. Between 2007 and 2008, demand fell 15% to 39Million tons and most forecast 2009 will end up at slightly under 32Millions tons (19% down).
The biggest element in this decline was lack of advertising (especially for Auto, Financial, and Real Estate). It is predicted that the next few years will generate a flat demand, and than decline, beyond 2011. One study indicated that this segment might be down to 25Million tons by 2024. Newsprint could well be the largest component of this decline.

Corrugated Box Prices Increase

RockTenn, Graphic Packaging International, and Sonoco have all announced an increase for corrugated box prices by 10 percent and corrugated sheets by 12 percent, effective with shipments on or after February 22. The industry had previously increased the price for uncoated recycled paperboard by $50/ton and bleached board products by $40/ton.
The converters have all absorbed a 40% increase in the cost of recovered paper.
Another cost pressure is the price announcements for Old Corrugated Containers (OCC)increasing in January from $80 to $110/ton.

All Uncoated Producers Advance Pricing

Consistent with our previous releases, as of today, Domtar and NewPage
announced $40/ton price hike on its offset grades, effective Feb 22.
Others, including International Paper, Glatfelter, Finch, Flambeau, and Grays Harbor have already announced similar price hikes on offset grades. Georgia Pacific, Boise, Suzano, Soporcel have limited their efforts to cut-size office grades. The continued rally in pulp prices is pressuring margins at nonintegrated mills.

Will Books Printers loose to Electronic Devices

Verso Digital recently presented their findings on a survey based on millions of Internet users and found that avid readers forecast they will split purchases between print and electronic. Most of the 'avid' reader group is over 45 years of age (66%). Only 28% of those in the 18+-age bracket are avid readers. 27% of avid readers are not willing to pay more than $10 and 37% not sure how much they would pay.
Apple just announced the IPAD device. I note Apple has revolutionised computers, cel phones, MP3 players - and could now create lure to grow the audience for EReaders.
In any event - more EReaders mean less paper consumed, in an already depressed market for demand.

Top 2009 Printers

The top printers by category for 2009 include
Printer / Segment Sales –Millions-$USD / Total Sales –Millions -$USD

Publication Printers
Worldcolor /$884 / $4,017
QuadGraphics / $861 / $2,266
Conveco /$352 / $2,200
Brown / $332 / $415
Publishers Press /$222 / $234

Catalog
QuadGraphics /$1,110 / $2,266
Worldcolor / $522 /$4.017
Arandell / $267 / $287
Consolidated /$115 / $1145
Sheridan / $94 / $348

Book
Worldcolor / $482 / $4.017
Courier / $280 / $280
Arvato / $266 / 321
Taylor $113 / 113
Walsworth Pub $98 / $115

Direct Mail
Cenveco $550 / $2220
IWCO / $252 / $252
Consolidated / $172 / $1,145
Worldcolor / $161 / $4,017
Segerdahl / $158 / $175

Finding the Right Printer Partner

These are difficult and challenging environments in the paper and printing markets, it is important to review your printing platform to assure you are still as cost competitive as possible
-Does the printer’s equipment still fit your publication?
-Do you still invite competitive printers to quote your publication?
-Is your printer still financially stable?
-Where has the printer downsized? Has this area effected your publication?
-Slower response from CSR, no new ideas on distribution, the paper buyer has not recommended any alternative papers, etc.
-Is your printer taking the correct steps to be environmentally friendly?
-Has your printer invested in new technologies?
ALSO,
-Have you considered more cost effective alternative papers?
-Lower brightness; Uncoated Supercalender instead of coated, lighter basis weight, self-cover, Groundwood containing /LWC in stead of a 'free; sheet.
-Have you reviewed reducing the size of your publication or fewer pages?
-Are you still distributing to nonrevenue producing subscribers?
It's January, start the year by reviewing all your vendors to confirm they are still competitive and partner up with your vendors to mutually create ways to save money.

Uncoated Shipments down in 2009

Total Uncoated Free shipments were down -11% for 2009 to 9.7Million tons. USA imported 855,600 tons for 11 months - 16% lower than last year and exports declined 6% at 779,300.

Uncoated Recycled Board Prices Increase

Graphic Packaging International announced a price increase of $50 per ton on all grades of PaceSetter(R) uncoated recycled board (URB), effective with shipments after Feb. 18.
The company is one of the largest producers of folding cartons and holds a leading market position in coated-recycled boxboard and specialty bag packaging.

Coupon Clipping – Hope For Newspapers?

The recession of 2009 saw consumers begin to use more coupons than in recent years, in fact, it was the first increase in 17 years. Shoppers turned to both the newspaper as well as online and cell phone applications to find coupons. Of particular note was online coupon access increased 92% and redemption shot up 360%, although the Internet still accounts for only 1.5% of coupons redeemed, according to a report from Inmar. Despite the rapid rise of online coupons, newspaper inserts still account for 89% of coupons distributed to consumers and more than half of coupon redemption. Web sites accounted for 0.3% of coupons distributed to consumers and 1.5% of redemption. 19.6% of online coupons are redeemed and it is estimated that consumers redeemed a total of 3.3 billion coupons in 2009, a 27% increase from 2.6 billion in 2008.

World Color Sold for $1.4Billion to Quad/Graphics

From Company release.
Quad/Graphics Inc., the largest privately held printer in the US, will acquire Montreal based, World Color Press Inc. for an estimated $1.4 billion. The deal will close in the summer when the expanded Quad/Graphics will become the 2nd largest commercial printer in the US behind RR Donnelley & Sons Co. Worldcolor shareholders will own 40% and Quad/Graphics shareholders 60%. Quad/Graphics CEO Joel Quadracci, age 41, will lead the combined entity as chairman, president and CEO. Worldcolor’s CEO, Mark Angelson will be named to the board and oversee the integration. Worldcolor prints magazines like Sports Illustrated, Rolling Stone, The Crate & Barrel catalog and Yellow Book Directories. Quad/Graphics’ clients include Newsweek, GQ and the LL Bean Catalog. In the 12 months through Sept, their combined revenue was $5.1 billion.


December Paper Shipments Up

Excerpts from AFPA report

The official report from AF&PA outlined USA shipments of Printing and Writing Paper increased 6% in December versus December 2008, the 2nd consecutive increase, with all 4 grades reporting an increase for the month. YTD shipments were down 15%. USA purchases (shipments + imports less exports) also increased in December, up 3% vs. 2008, but still down 17% YTD. Printing and writing inventory levels decreased 2% or 41,000 in Dec09 vs. Nov09.

China Continues to be a HUGE consumer of Pulp

In 2009, China imported a record high 13.7Million tons of market pulp, increasing 44% over the 2008 deliveries. The extra demand was consumed by the new machines starting up without domestic fiber. Most exerts in the industry believe the Chinese will continue to grow their purchases of market pulp, despite less worldwide supply and increased prices. There has also been an increase in pulp consumption in India with solid demand in Bangladesh, Pakistan and Vietnam. Suppliers in Brazil and Indonesia had pulp availability decrease due to flooding, while Russian suppliers had unusually frigid temperatures, slowing production.

Chinese Continue Uncoated Expansion

Three new pulp & paper investments in China announced by Guangxi Yongkai Sugar and one by Guangxhi Huacheng Paper adding almost 1Million TPA of uncoated paper. China, now the largest producer of uncoated papers, also continues to witness increases in consumption.

Uncoated Price Increase Announced by ALL!

Last week we announced Domtar increased their price and, as assumed, most of the uncoated white paper mills joined Domtar in reporting a price increase for late February or early March. Most increases were $40/ton, the exception is Wausau which we reported as $60 for text and cover grades. Domtar and Boise told customers they would only increase cut-size business papers; however, International Paper, Glatfelter and Finch extended the increase to offset rolls, tag/index/file folder stock and other converting grades.

Newsprint Producers Hope for Improvement

The year 2009 was not kind to many paper markets, and Newsprint was hit especially hard. After a reduction of 14% in 2008, demand continued to erode another 24% in 2009. Electronic communication has truly hurt this industry. Capacity continues to outstrip demand, despite reduced pricing and plant closings. AbitibiBowater continues to operate under chapter 11 - commanding 43% of the market, White Birch is #2 at 22% - failed to pay an interest debt due last Fall, and Port Huron - filed for bankruptcy protection. Even if the economy improves, will end users go back to newspapers for news, classified advertisements, and coupons?

Printing Sales Continues Down in 2009

The NAPL reported that US commercial printing sales were down -16% in 2009 to $72Billion. The rate of decline slowed significantly since last summer, with a forecast for 2010 of rising +2 to 3% to $73-74 billion. NAPL forecasts a slow recovery, not hitting its stride until later in the year.

NY Times Charges Fee for Online News

The New York Times announced they will soon charge non subscribers for heavy use for attaining news on their website. The company will continue to provide free content for a limiting number of articles and print subscribers will continue to have free access to the site. Under the new metered model, a viewer can read a certain number of articles per month free before being charged a flat fee. This is a similar model to The Financial Times. The exact cost was not confirmed. Note, the NYTimes is one of the most popular newspaper site in the country (over 17 million readers) . The Times will begin charging in January 2011.

Catalyst Paper to Idle Paper Machine

The Catalyst Paper Company reported that the 1PM at its Crofton mill in British Columbia will be curtailed indefinitely due to weak newsprint and directory paper demand.
The machine has a capacity of 140,000TPA of commodity grades and was temporarily idled on December 23, 2009 for the holiday period.
The mill has an annual production capacity of 200,00TPA of newsprint and 210,000TPA of directory paper, along with the capacity to produce 343,000TPA of NBSK pulp.

Newsprint Machines Still Feel Results of Poor Demand

Throughout the last several years, Coy Paper has reported on shuttered newsprint equipment. Today, we confirm AbitibiBowater’s Fort Frances mill in Ontario will now be shut down indefinitely due to an effluent problem. They will remain down until they are in compliance with all laws and regulations. 

Stora Enso will restart the #2 paper machine at Varkaus Plant in Finland after having been down for 6 weeks. The stop was due to market related down time. The Varkaus, facility has a capacity of 290,000TPA of directory paper and newsprint, while PM #3, which has remained running, has 310,000TPA capacity.

Wausau to Increase Paper Prices

Monday, March 1, 2010 Wausau Paper will increase the base price of the following grades by $2.00/cwt:
Exact Index; Exact Vellum Bristol; Exact Tag; Exact Opaque Colors; Exact Multipurpose

Uncoated Prices May Increase

Domtar just announced a $40/ton price increase on their business paper cut size grades, effective February 15. So far, this is the only grade line to be increased. We can only assume that all Domtar’s competitors will follow; especially in that demand is improving including December 2009 vs 08 shows shipments +1.2% ( this is the first positive comparable since April of 2007).
Certainly raw material costs including pulp prices and energy continue to surge. Also,inventories at both the mills and the merchants are down 20% down from this time last year. Lastly, recall International Paper and Domtar will close 800,000TPA of capacity by mid-2010, representing 7% of North America’s Uncoated Free Sheet capacity; furthermore, the artificial support from the black liquor credits are gone (that was $8Billion in 2009!!). All indicators that the price increase will most likely stick.

Containerboard Pricing is ‘on the move’

A price increase for both the East and the West Coast was announced in December for January shipments. We think these price increases might actually happen, or at least $25-30/ton of the announced increase; the balance will most likely be absorbed in the February / March time period. Although demand has not appreciably picked up, raw material costs certainly have increased, thus, creating this 'forced' increase.

Reader’s Digest on Target to end Bankruptcy

Reader’s Digest just reported that their restructuring plan was approved and the company could exit bankruptcy by January 31. The company’s debt would be reduced from $2.2Billion to $550Million and the retirement for past employees would be modified. They will reduce headcount and move headquarters to a more efficient faculty.

NewPage Appoints New President and CEO

From NewPage News Release
NewPage Corporatio announced that Richard D. Willett, Jr., President and Chief Executive Officer, has resigned from NewPage effective immediately. Mark A. Suwyn, former Chief Executive Officer and currently Executive Chairman, has been elected to serve as Chief Executive Officer until a new Chief Executive Officer is named.

NewPage is headquartered in Miamisburg , Ohio ,and is the largest coated paper manufacturer in North America , based on production capacity, with sales of $4.4 billion. The company's product portfolio is the broadest in North America and includes coated freesheet, coated groundwood, supercalendered, newsprint and specialty papers.
NewPage owns paper mills in Kentucky , Maine , Maryland , Michigan , Minnesota , Wisconsin and Nova Scotia , Canada . These mills have a total annual production capacity of approximately 4.4 million tons of paper, including approximately 3.2 million tons of coated paper, approximately 1.0 million tons of uncoated paper and approximately 200,000 tons of specialty paper.

December saw Improvement for Printing and Writing Papers

Printing and writing paper shipments improved in the USA for the month of December. Total shipments yielded 1.478Million tons, up 2.8% vs. November and 5% higher than last year. Full year shipments decreased 15.6% to 17,000 tons. Coated mechanical rose 15.5% to 306,300 tons and coated freesheet rose 12.1% to 256,500 tons vs. 2008, with both increasing vs. November YTD, both were down almost 20% with coated mechanical at 3.2Million tons and coated freesheet down to 3.25Million tons. Uncoated freesheet rose 1.2% vs. December 2008 to 752,399 tons, with YTD volumes down 11.6% to 9Million tons. Uncoated mechanical remained stable vs. December last year, at 131,800 tons, but dropped 21.8% YTD to 1.6Million tons.

Canon Still Progressing in the Acquisition of Oce

Canon, the Japanese maker of cameras, copy machines and other electronics and
Oce, which sells printers and copiers and has relied heavily on sales to banks and architecture firms are on target for Canon’s $1.1Billion purchase. The over riding objective is to be the #1 presence in the printing industry. The combination will yield a huge sales network in Asia, Europe and the USA.

The combined Canon-Océ will be up against competition from Fuji and Ricoh to dominate the European, USA and Asian markets. Canon’s acquisition comes just a year after Ricoh bought Ikon Office Solutions, based in Pennsylvania, for $1.62 billion.

Cenveo Plans to Close Another Plant

In addition to Cenveo closing its Charlottesville, VA printing plant, which they obtained through the purchase of Cadmus Communications they will also close the Baltimore commercial printing plant in February.

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Magazines Post 25% Decline in Advertising Pages for 2009

The Magazine Publishers of America’s Publishers Information Bureau (PIB) reported on advertising pages for 2009. Pages were down 25.6% and revenues closed at $20Billion, which means a decline of 18.1%. The New York Times reported total magazine advertising pages were down over 58,500 pages when they compared 2008 page count to ad pages in magazines that were still published in 2009. Only 18 magazines enjoyed an increase of advertising pages.
The biggest decliners were financial, insurance and real estate ( down 41.4%) and automotive (down 40.5%). Estimated revenues were down in all categories except for food and food products, which posted a slight 1.4% gain.
PIB also noted that the advertising page reduction experienced in 2009 was so severe that many of the surviving publishers lost focus on their dependence for advertising revenues and, instead, began to concentrate on digital editions.
Fewer advertising pages translate into a decline in overall page count and thus less paper is consumed. If advertising in publications do not improve, difficult to forecast much advancement for publication paper demands.

Will 2010 be Better than 2009 for the Paper Industry?

The year, 2009, certainly created several challenges for the paper industry. Paper producers did a remarkable job of limiting price erosion despite sharply lower shipment volumes and variable (usually up) raw material costs. The industry responded with massive amounts of market downtime, as well as a significant amount of closures, in many cases even driving down inventories despite weak demand.

Although the last few months of 2009 illustrated some improvement; sustained improvement will only arrive once the economy improves. Keep in mind, 2009 paper demand continued to be lower than 2007 and the beginning of 2008.

The paper manufacturers continue to operate along a slippery rope – recently most grades experienced an announced price increase; meanwhile, demand continues to be below expectations, supply was controlled by down time (this is not sustainable ), input costs such as chemical, energy, and transportation are forecast to increase, and the infamous black liquor credit (worth billions of dollars) is gone.

I think we all agree that for the industry to be healthy, long term, a price increase is needed; however, most buyers are aggressively pushing back due to the inability to pass it on to their customers.

Of particular note is the containerboard price increase – without consumers buying 'stuff' – nothing to go into the box – therefore demand is forecast to be depressed. The other two markets sharing concern are the price increase for publication and newspaper papers. Both are hurting from lack of subscribers and depressed advertising.

Anyone of our Coy Paper Company News on the Pulp and Paper readers care to comment on forecasting 2010 prices, demand, and supply; also, venture an opinion on next mills to close?

Two of the Biggest Publishers to Mutually Buy Paper

Two of America's largest magazine publishers, Time Inc. and Meredith, have reportedly joined forces to buy paper. The two companies issued joint requests for proposals to potential paper suppliers late last year, according to several sources.
Together, the two consume several hundred thousand tons of paper, annually.

Time is a major buyer of lightweight coated (LWC - 29lbs to 32lbs ) for offset printing. Meredith's is more geared to rotogravure papers and higher basis weights. This will introduce added pressure for pricing on an already depressed market.

US Department of Commerce Delays Anti-Dumping Decision

Department of Commerce announced it will delay the decision on the countervailing duties against Chinese and Indonesian paper producers until February 22nd. The Department must determine if the imports from the two countries caused injury to USA paper producers and originally reported the decision would be made by mid December.

Recent Happenings on Publications

-Penton Media has ceased publication of the print editions of American Machinist and Welding Design & Fabrication
-Consumer business and finance magazines had a rough go in 2009. Collectively, the titles tracked by PIB saw advertising pages fall nearly 30 percent.
-Reed Business Information has ceased publication of three trade titles: Video Business, Manufacturing Business Technology, and Industrial Distribution.

China’s Yueyang Paper Machines start up

Following up on the Coy Paper earlier releases, in August, Yueyang started up #10PM and in October #9 PM started up. Both continue to run trials and reports outline the paper looks fine. Both have a capacity of 200,000TPA each of uncoated paper. #10PM will focus on recycled business and offset papers while #9 will supply the same papers from virgin fiber. The plan is for #10PM to eventually produce papers from 100% deinked pulp (most of the raw stock coming from USA).
In 2008 China produced 79.8Million tons of paper and paperboard – an increase of nearly 13% annually since 2000. Of this production, China consumed 13.85Million uncoated printing and writing tons in 2008 and produced 14Million tons.
At 400,000TPA of new capacity, the Chinese must have America in their scope for exporting paper.

Race is on for Digital versus Print

Forrester Research has just revised up its May 2009 forecast of this year’s U.S. eReader sales to 3 million units from 2 million, due to strong sales in November and December. Moreover, it now expects sales of another 6 million units in 2010.

Top 10 In-plant printers in USA

2009 Top 10 plants in USA by revenue include
US Government
Allstate Insurance
State of California
State of Washington
CVS/Caremark
Ohio State University
Spartan Stores
University of Oklahoma
Louisiana State University
University of Washington

Glatfelter buys Concert Industries

Glatfelter agreed to acquire the nonwoven producer Concert Industries Corporation from Brookfield Asset Management Inc. for $235Million, expanding the specialty paper company's markets, especially in developing markets beyond the USA. Concert is one of the world's leading producers of highly absorbent and customized airlaid. The airlaid line is one of the best options in the marketplace in terms of high absorbency. The company's unique production process allows products to absorb more moisture than common cellulose, yet it is lighter, more durable and cost competitive, especially when compared to similar weight non-wovens.
Concert Industries has operations in Canada and Germany with a total
capacity of 84K tons.

Print Volume up Slightly in Third Quarter

Dr Webb recently published a report on the printing industry. A few highlights-
"The third quarter of 2009 continued a positive turnaround from a disastrous Q1,” said Dr. Webb. “The industry has had significant declines in volume for the last year, and has cut back staffing levels at a slightly faster rate than those sales declines. It may now be finding the right balance of productive capabilities, declining shipments, and price pressures of electronic media.”
In the report, Dr. Webb reviews the latest trends in shipments, profits, and capacity measures for the industry. He also discusses how it is likely that in the next six months the recession will probably be declared as over. “It is likely that the fourth quarter of 2009 will be identified as the recession's end."

Folio Profiles 2009 Magazine Industry

Coy Paper has reported on all the challenges last year for the paper markets. 2009 certainly proved to be a challenge for anyone associated with the publishing world. The year outlined economic fallout, bankruptcies, dwindling advertising dollars, shuttered magazines, layoffs, pay cuts to name a few. Folio reports on the industry as 2009 unwinded
2009 profile on the magazine industry world link Click on link

Leader in E-reader Display Manufacturing Owned by Paper Company

Excepts from recent RISI research paper.
Prime View International (PVI) is the leader (66% market share) in supplying displays used in e-readers such as Amazon.com’s Kindle, Sony’s Reader and Barnes & Noble’s Nook. PVI is owned by Taiwan’s largest paper manufacturer, Yuen Foong Yu, which launched this technology division 17 years ago, as they became worried about digital replacing print. After facing tough competition in the LCD market, they’ve spent over a $1Billion on e-screen development and acquisitions, purchasing screen technology from Philips Electronics in 2005 and E Ink Corp. of MA last June. Worldwide sales of e-readers are expected to soar to 12 million units in 2010, up from 5 million in 2009. Many of these will be made by competitors, able to show video with full color screens such as Apple’s Tablet and Qualcomm’s new screen technology called Mirasol.

AF&PA and NPTA Merge for One Meeting

The American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA) and the NPTA are joining forces to host a combined conference March 21-23, 2010 in New York City, called PAPER2010.
Also know as 'paper week'.
The AF&PA is the national trade association of the forest products industry, representing pulp, paper, and wood products manufacturers, and forest landowners. The NPTA Alliance (formerly the National Paper Trade Association, Inc.) is the association for the $60Billion paper, packaging and supplies distribution industry.

Reader’s Digest to Launch Three New Health Magazines

Reader’s Digest plans to launch three new magazines called Reverse Diabetes, Walk it Off, and No Fail Weight Loss All three will be sold as part of a single-sponsored package in the health sector. The magazines will be published 4 times a year.

International Paper Shutters a Paper Machine

As Coy Paper recently announced, International Paper just closed its uncoated freesheet (business papers) paper machine #1 in Franklin, VA. This past Fall, the company announced that they would close the mill to reduce production capacity. In November, company stopped production on its # 6 paper machine.

Conde Nast Considers a New Magazine

Finally, some good news for the ailing magazine industry. Recall, we reported on Conde Nast having to close six consumer magazines, including Gourmet; reduced costs 25%; and making several reductions in their workforce – have announced they are working on a trade magazine for the men's' fashion market. This new title may be marketed as a trade publication and not a consumer magazine.

Reed to Close Publications

Reed Business Information has been marketing the sale of the USA magazine group and has yet to confirm a buyer for the complete division. The current decisions are to close several publications, or sell them individually – or begin to lay staff off.

More Permanent Closures announced by International Paper

From International Paper Release
International Paper announced plans to close its paper mill operations in Franklin, VA, and its containerboard mills in Pineville, LA, and Albany, OR. The company also announced it would permanently shut down the previously idled No. 3 machine at its Valliant, OK, containerboard mill. The Valliant Mill's other two machines will continue to operate. These permanent shutdowns will reduce the company's North American paper and board capacity by 2.1 million tons.
The company concluded that we have excess capacity in our North American paper and packaging businesses, and these decisions will better match our supply with our expected customer demand.
Since the onset of the global recession, the decline in demand for International Paper's uncoated freesheet in North America has accelerated, and consequently the company has decided to further reduce its uncoated freesheet capacity.
In its containerboard and coated paperboard businesses, International Paper expects demand to resume growth as the economy rebounds. However, the company's demand is not expected to return to 2008 levels in the near future. Therefore, permanent International Paper capacity closures are necessary.
The closures will impact about 1,600 employees and will result in permanent North American capacity reductions.
Following these permanent shutdowns, International Paper will have approximately 10 million tons of North American containerboard capacity, 2.6 million tons of North American uncoated freesheet production capacity, and 1.7 million tons of North American coated paperboard capacity. These capacity shutdowns will not impact the company's ability to serve its customers.

MeadWestvaco Downsizes 14 plants

MeadWestvaco reported they will restructure fourteen facilities in their global packaging markets group. 

These actions include further reducing corporate and business unit overhead expenses and closing or restructuring 12 to 14 manufacturing locations. This will result in the elimination of approximately 2,000 positions, or 10 percent of MeadWestvaco’s global workforce in 2010.
The company also announced they will not provide 2009 pay increases for salaried employees. The manufacturing-related reductions will include savings from facility restructurings and closures. The company feels that rationalizing assets as outlined will accommodate reduced demand and corporate financial objectives.

Caraustar Industries out of Chapter 11 bankruptcy

This week's big announcement was Caraustar Industries, Inc. has emerged from Chapter 11 as a newly reorganized private company eliminating approximately $135 million in debt.
The company’s Plan of Reorganization had minimal business disruption and was completed in record time. Caraustar also reported to have closed on a new $75 million revolving credit facility to provide adequate liquidity to meet all of its working capital needs, including any future capital investments.

2010 Paper Prices Might Increase

The year 2009 was certainly a challenge for the pulp and paper industry – slow demand and constant pricing pressure. Paper prices experienced a steady fall for most of the year and now appear to be leveling off. Several producers, and Coy Paper Company, are forecasting a gradual price increase for most grades for 2010. Demand might only slightly rebound, but raw material costs such as pulp, chemicals, transportation and energy will increase. Inventory levels, both at the mill and the end user, are down and manufacturers continue to curtail supply and imports are down. Lastly, support such as the ‘black liquor’ credit is gone. Therefore, even if demand does not increase, there are plenty of other reasons for paper prices to rise.

USA Consumption of Recycled Fiber Up

The AF&PA recently reported that recycled fiber consumption in the USA was 2.5Million tons in November, an increase of 0.9% vs. last month and an increase of 0.8% vs. 2008. This trend is expected to continue.

Release Liner Highlights

Release liner is the material that many labels (pressure sensitive) include as a backer sheet. This is the component of the label, which is used as a carrier and discarded once the label is consumed.
-World consumption – all release liners – 31Billion sq. meters
-Growth is less than 1%/year
-Super Calendar Kraft #1 material (44% of the market)
-Films increased to 20% of the liner market
-Clay coated now 13% of the market
-Linerless labels have failed to be successful
-Total label growth 2.1%
-Glue applied + 2%
-Pressure Sensitive +1.8%

USA Post Office for 2010

In our past releases we reported the USPS lost $3.8Billion for 2009Fiscal, which was $1Billion more than 2008. Total mail volume was 177.1Billion pieces – down 25Billion (12.7%) from the 202.7Billion pieces in 2008. Concern for 2010 is people learned to order product on line, accept digital communication as well as business invoices, correspond on email, and think greener – no longer accepting catalogues and direct mail promotions. The USPS needs to revise its model for fewer pieces mailed and accept this as a trend.

Rail Shipments Down with less Paper Demand

North American Rail freight volume of pulp and paper decreased and YTD carloads were down 20% through November. Last week, the Senate Commerce Committee passed comprehensive freight railroad reform legislation designed to increase competition and improve federal regulation of railroads. It is estimated that 30% of US paper, packaging and wood product manufacturing sites have access to only a single rail carrier. This monopoly status has led to high costs with poor customer service.

Will the Increased Containerboard Price Stick?

Pressure continues to mount for producers of container board after all the major North American manufactures announced the $50/ton price hike in the East and most producers are pushing for $70/ton in the West.

Demand continues to be weak – slow economy means less goods purchased and therefore, box volumes fell 12% year to date through November. Most buyers are trying to push back on price increases.

However, given the large supply reductions (recall our earlier blog that International Paper, Smurfit, and West Fraser will shut off 2.7Million tons) perhaps the price increase has a chance.

More Pulp Price Increases

Recently, Deutsche Bank hosted a conference on the pulp market and declared that after pricing had held flat for the month of December, the major softwood and hardwood producers once again announced price hikes of $20-30/mton in the US, Europe, and Asia, effective January 1.

Producers set NBSK price at $850/mton (+$20/mton) in the US, $830/mton (+$30/mton) in Europe, and +$20-30/mton in Asia, with China at $720-730/mton. China had been heading up the robust demand for pulp because of low inventories and tight supplies, but suddenly there are reports of slowing demand in China – perhaps the pipe line is finally full. Also, China started up 6 new pulp machines during the 2H2009 and 3 more will come on line 1H2010. China's new production will increase to 2.6Million tons of pulp by the end of 2010. Most North American buyers report that pulp remains fairly tight in supply due to equipment curtailments, especially Hard Wood. These same buyers predict this tightness will not last and a price correction will occur 2Q10.

P. Scott Vallely on CBS

Joe Connelly of the Wall Street Journal interviewed Mr. Vallely about the Paper.com site, one of the largest web marketing sites that focuses exclusively on selling paper. He commented on the success of the site to date and the recent initative to now market Paper.com for sale. Any interested buyers should email the management team at admin@paper.com . The interview was aired on WCBS radio 880.

China’s Sun Paper Announces Another Paper Machine

Sun Paper will build a $228 million, 300,000 TPA, uncoated mechanical (groundwood) paper machine at the Yanzhou City mill. This machine (PM24) will make publication papers in a basis weight range of 60-150 g/m2, in 2011. This will follow the installation of PM23, a 350,000TPA uncoated fine paper machine being installed in April 2010.
Sun currently produces 450,000 TPA of uncoated woodfree and mechanical paper, 100,000TPA of coated woodfree paper, and 300,000 TPA of cartonboard from this facility.

AbitibiBowater Restarts Another Paper Machine

AbitibiBowater reconfirmed that they plan to restart paper machine #5 in Thunder Bay, ON in early February. The 250,000 TPA newsprint machine was shut down indefinitely in August, along with PM #4, 160,000 TPA.

Update on Canadian Paper Market

It’s no secret, like the USA paper producers, Canada has also struggling with overcapacity and decreasing demand. The forecast is for the Canadian industry will lose an aggregate C$1.2 billion this year and the industry will not return to profitability until 2011. American Forest & Paper Association data show that the volume of shipments to the U.S. from Canada fell from 18% to 75% in various key paper categories during the first three quarters of 2009, versus the same period of 2008.

Canada has always been a world leader in Newsprint production with a capacity of over 10Million tons; however, newsprint makers estimate they will have only shipped closer to 7.2 million tons by year end. The future is not predicted to be much better with consumption at between 6.8 million and 6.9 million metric tons next year, and somewhat lower still in 2011.

More optimism - 2010 Improvement in Paper Industry

The Fitch Rating Organization recently forecast a modest recovery for paper in 2010. The rating service reported that short term demand for uncoated freesheet (UFS) and coated mechanical paper (LWC – Publication paper) are stabilizing and expected to rise later in year. Unfortunately, coated freesheet and uncoated mechanical (groundwood) is projected to experience slow demand Paper margins will continue to be squeezed by the rising cost of pulp, possible transportation and chemical price increases, and lack of black liquor credits.

2009 Results in Fewer Magazine Closures

MediaFinder.com reports fewer magazine closures in 2009, 428 vs. 613 in 2008 and 643 in 2007. The number of launches also decreased to 275 in 2009 from 335 in 2008. Regional magazines had both the highest number of start ups, 21, and shutdowns at 34. Business-to-business magazines saw 120 closings in 2009, less than 147 in 2008 and 158 in 2007. There were 85 b-to-b launches in 2009.

Another Prospective on the Paper Market

To compliment our report earlier this week on our Coy Paper news releases, we offer 'heard on the streets' comments that US Printing/Writing Paper demand and shipments were up 2.5% in November primarily driven by strong coated paper shipments.
November shipments of 1.435Million tons was the first monthly 2009 vs 2008 increase since February 2008 (vs. 2007). Total shipments YTD were 15.612 million tons, down 17% vs. 2008.
-Coated freesheet was up 10.4% to 293,600 tons in November
-Coated mechanical (LWC - publication paper) up 14.7% to 285,100 tons.
-Uncoated freesheet was stable at 714,800 tons, down 0.5% vs. last year. November shipments were down vs. October, due to seasonality.

Smurfit Finally Announced Down Time

Smurfit-Stone has announced 900,000 tons of permanent linerboard capacity closures at two locations.
-Ontonogan, MI corrugating medium mill (280,000 tons)
-Missoula, MT mill (620,000 tons)
Smurfit news follows the recent announcement that International Paper will shutter 1,400,000TPA of containerboard capacity and West Fraser's announcement of 450,000 tons
of capacity.
The producers will most likely continue to adjust supply to demand which will assist the recent price increase.

Magazines raise Cover Prices

Revenue generated from advertising pages is forecast to continue to be depressed. Accordingly, several publications look to survive by increasing the cover price for the magazine.
A few examples include-
-Condé Nast - The New Yorker, Golf Digest and Teen Vogue in 2010,
-Hearst - Good Housekeeping, Esquire and Veranda and is considering the same for Country Living
-Wenner - Men’s Journal and Rolling Stone
-Meredith - Better Homes and Gardens and Ladies’ Home Journal, Family Circle and Traditional Home
-Rodale is looking at doing the same at its health/fitness titles
Publishers are also reviewing decreasing the frequency they print magazines in an effort to save money.

Price Increase for Bleached Board

The producers of Solid Bleached Sulfate (SBS) board grades are beginning to tell end users about increasing the price by $40/ton. Although these grades have not had an increase since October 2008 (transaction price $1000-1050/ton), they also have not had to discount pricing like so many other paper grades during 2009. So far Georgia Pacific and MeadWestvaco have formally announced.
Recall MeadWestvaco shuttered a 200,000TPA paper machine in Texas and International Paper will close a 140,000TPA machine in Virgina.

Market Update Illustrates Optimism

Exempts from Deutsche Bank - Equity Research

The printing and writing paper shipments for November look dramatically improved versus at this time last year. The American Forest & Paper Association released market data. Deutsche Bank cautions that a good portion of the improvement owes to a "lapping" of weak numbers
from 4Q2008. Nonetheless, the numbers are striking and could signal the beginning of an inflection point in white paper markets. The best year over year comparables were in light-weight coated paper (LWC), where preliminary data suggests shipments were up 14.7% (-22.4% YTD). Spot discount pricing for LWC are slowly increasing.
Heavier-weight coated free sheet shipments were up 10.4% (-20.7% YTD). Uncoated free sheet shipments were down -0.5% (-12.6% YTD). The smallest category, uncoated groundwood, had the weakest performance with shipments down 15.0% (-23.4% YTD). Sequentially,
shipments in all markets were down from October levels. Much of that month to month easing would appear to be seasonal as the holiday printing season begins to ebb.

As noted industry shipments are now lapping 2008 shipments. Thus, enthusiasm should be tempered. Moreover, we think coated and uncoated free sheet markets remain vulnerable to
ripple effects from pending capacity start-ups of some 4.5MM tons in China as well as capacity overhangs in other markets. Quick note on pulp, looks like price increases have slowed, and demand has stabilized – China buying less and global inventories in balance.

Japan Exports to China to slow as China Adds Paper Capacity

In the next two years, China plans to add 4.6Million TPA of paper capacity,
-2,600TPA being coated woodfree
-2,000TPA uncoated.
The 4 manufacturers of coated paper
- Jinhai Pulp & Paper (APP China) 900,000 tons
- -Shandong Chenming 800,000TPA
- -Shandong Huatai 500,000TPA
- -Oji Paper 400,000TPA
Uncoated paper will be in balance with demand, because many smaller manufacturers are being consolidated into the larger ones, and there is growth enough in China to absorb the rest.
The coated market, however, is all new capacity. The high growth Chinese market will eventually absorb the excess by the end of 2014. In the meantime, they will be forced to find external markets for excess capacity and/or suffer low operating rates.


In 2009, Japan was the fastest growing market for Chinese exports, increasing 400% or 145,000 tons vs. last year. Japan’s paper producers have had difficulty competing on price, however; recently they have become competitive, resulting in October Chinese imports to Japan dropping 21% vs. Sept. The extent to which Chinese coated exports will be affected by the US anti-dumping investigation or fears over Dubai, will determine where the excess tonnage is sold in the next 2 years.

Paper.com Looking for Buyer

Paper.com LLC operations, arguably the largest web based paper marketing company, recently commissioned Moniker to secure buyers for the site. Paper.com has over 40,000 paper items and thousands of visitors each day; the site has nearly 2000 affiliate marketers and a category 'killer' URL address is now for sale. Contact admin@paper.com

Neilson Sells Magazines

Nielsen Business Media has agreed to sell eight of its media brands, including a number of its trade magazines, to e5 Global Media, a new company formed by Pluribus Capital Management and Guggenheim Partners.

The sale agreement includes The Hollywood Reporter, Billboard, Adweek, Brandweek, Mediaweek and Back Stage magazines, as well as Nielsen’s Clio Awards and Film Journal International. Also being sold is the Film Expo Business, which includes the ShoWest, ShowEast, Cinema Expo International and CineAsia trade shows.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, although it was rumored to be priced at approximately $70 million

Two More Paper Mill Closures

This week, beyond the Paperlinx machine shut downs just reported, two more companies officially announced downtime. Note, most paper producers are constantly curtailing manufacturing due to poor backlogs - just not formally announcing it.
-Sappi Fine Paper to close Kangas Mill in Finland by 1Q 2010,.
-Nippon Paper Mill Down for 2 Weeks in Port Angeles, WA, this is the third shutdown this year.

St. Mary’s Paper Plans Downtime

St. Mary’s Paper in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario will idle paper machines #3 and #4 during the 1Q2010. PM #5 will remain operational. Management sited poor demand as the reason for this market related downtime.

The mill produces 240,000TPA of SCA premium, SCA and SCB paper grades under the trade names Sequence, Sequel and Synpress

PaperlinX Departs from Paper Manufacturing

Australia's PaperlinX has decided to close its Wesley Vale pulp and paper mill and one of the two paper machines at its Burnie mill and therefore reduce production at Tasmanian paper manufacturing operations, The closures mark Paperlinx's exit from paper manufacturing. Upon completion of this exit, PaperlinX said that it will be solely a distribution company, distributing paper, signs, display and graphics materials, and industrial packaging.

The Wesley Vale Mill produces 40,000 TPA of pulp and 145,000TPA of coated and uncoated papers for publishing, business forms and printing
The Burnie Mill has a capacity of 140,000TPA of uncoated business papers.

Truck Companies Forecast Improvement

Although transportation companies, many of which ship paper products, experienced a challenging 2009, the forecast appears to favor the truckers; allowing them to charge more for full loads. Unfortunately, for the truckers, the less-than-truckload market looks like it will remain a buyers' market for the short term. Most clients have limited inventory and are requesting trucks to replenish stock to their floor. Transportation, both inbound and outbound, are important cost components when quoting a delivered price for paper.

Five Publishers go ahead with Plans to 'Go Digital'

As Coy Paper reported in past, Time, Conde Nast, Hearst, Meredith and News Corp. will create an industry standard platform for magazines, newspapers, etc… for full color, touch-screen digital format that is attractive and interactive for the the Internet, smart phones and e-readers.

These publishers collectively represent nearly 145Million consumers. This will be a subscription fee based initiative for full access and the objective is to establish a revenue stream from advertisers.

Top 10 USA Paper Companies Post Earnings

The USA largest pulp, forest, and paper companies posted earnings of $1.2Billion in the third quarter of 2009, versus $733Million in, 2008 for increase of $500Million. All but two companies posted positive or improved earnings. Note, this improvement was primarily a result of an estimated $1.1Billion of tax credits for the use of black liquor as a bio fuel to generate energy.

Newsprint Market update

As of today, the newsprint producers AbitibiBowater, White Birch, Kruger, and Tembec have all announced price increases for the coming months.
These major producers have announced a $25/mton price for both January and for February. Meanwhile Norpac announced a single $50/mton for January and Catalyst Paper also announced a $50/mton price hike for February. Although demand remains low, with USA Dailies suffering a decline of over 23.5% in October, the paper supply has been reduced. Given the equipment closures for the last few years, most buyers are forecasting that these increases will be paid. Coy Paper forecasts that additional newsprint price increases will be announced during 2010.

Containerboard Market Update

As Coy Paper has previously reported, all the major containerboard producers have announced a $50/ton price hike in the East and $70/ton in the West. This is a difficult increase for most converters to absorb, given the poor economy and lack of orders for packaging. This recent price movement is a result of large supply reductions. Coy Paper has reported on closures such as International Paper and West Fraser shuttering 1.8Million tons, a better demand for exports, and the expiration of black liquor credits - all placing pressure on mills for this increase.
A recent report outlined the black liquor credit could have assisted mills cost by as much as $180/ton.

Canadian Pulp and Paper Companies Report on Profits

Eleven publicly traded Canadian companies reported combined third quarter loss of negative C$487 million. This was slightly better than second quarter of 2009 at negative $535.8 million and the first quarter of negative C$642.6 million. AbitibiBowater’s loss of –C$411.4 million contributed the most to the Canadian industry’s lack of profit. Only three companies were profitable in 3Q; Domtar C$62.5 million; Cascades C$35 million; and, Canfor Pulp C$11.4 million. All companies declined in sales, generating combined C$6.2 billion, down over 20% versus 2008 but up 1% vs. 2Q. AbitibiBowater (-34%), Catalyst Paper (-48%), Tembec (-28%) and Fraser Papers (-24%) had the worst sales declines in 3Q vs. 2008.

Hearst will Start Skiff Digital Reader Service

Sometime in early 2010, Hearst plans to start a digital e-reading service called Skiff, formerly known as FirstPaper. Skiff will sell digital versions of newspapers and magazines on electronic readers and other devices that have better graphics and look more like the print magazine, than Amazon’s Kindle. Hearst would be the first publisher with its own end-to-end digital publishing system including reading hardware.

Fraser Papers restructuring grades and name to Newco

Fraser Papers is reviewing the option of buying its core specialty paper business and renaming the new entity to Newco This will allow the company to exit creditor protection. The plan is to sell the assets of the core business in Edmundston, NB, Madawaska, ME and two New Brunswick lumber mills to the new entity, Newco. Than, the new company would dispose of remaining assets, owned by Fraser, including Gorham Paper Mill in NH, two lumber mills in Maine, and Thurso pulp mill in Quebec.

Recycled Fiber Costs Increase

Recycled fiber costs continue to increase and prices for old corrugated containers (OCC) have recently risen over $10/ton.
The continuous higher fiber costs could put pressure on many mills with a concentration of recycled grades.

Kraft Paper Price Increases

For the second time, Longview will increase its unbleached bleached kraft paper grades $50/ton.

Finally, Smurfit Announces Price Increase

Smurfit-Stone announced a price increase which mirrors the new price levels made by International Paper, Georgia-Pacific and Temple-Inland which Coy Paper reported on earlier. These four producers represent nearly 75% of the domestic containerboard market.

Sports Illustrated Goes E-Zine

Time Magazine’s Sports Illustrated publication is talking about transitioning the print magazine to a digital magazine-friendly e-reader.
Time Inc. has been working with Web site design firm Wonderfactory for Sports Illustrated and several of their other publications.
Time is also working on an application that would translate all of Time Inc.’s magazines to the iPhone. A pay model for the tablet versions have not been determined.

Four New Companies Joined AF&PA

The American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA) announced that ArborGen, Grays Harbor Paper, Marcal Paper Products, and Thilmany Papers are the newest members of the Association. The forest products industry employs approximately 1 million workers and generates 6 percent of the total U.S. manufacturing GDP.

National Geographic's Adventure RIP

After 1o years, National Geographic has decided to close National Geographic Adventure because of the weak environment for print advertising. The circulation has decreased to 636,750 and the advertising pages declined 25 percent. Management has not ruled out e-magazines, mobile apps, awards and a Web site going forward.

Temple Inland Also Raises Price of Containerboard

Temple-Inland joined the others with a $50/ton and $70/ton price increase on containerboard . Smurfit, with 7.1Million tons of capacity, is expected to also announce an increase.
We have heard that Smurfit is to shutter containerboard & corrugated packaging equipment.

Will India Be Next to Build a Paper Industry?

China, with 1.33billion people, has a growing appetite for consumer products and boxes to ship them in – but with India’s 1.18billion population growing more and more sophisticated – will they be the next country to build paper mills? India continues to be one of the poorest countries in Asia and has focused on the service industry, but data illustrates containerboard demand has only grown to 2.6million tons (versus China’s demand of 30.5million tons). India certainly is a country to watch for as the population becomes more industries and wealthy.

Coy Paper Appointed Distributor for Fire Proof Chemical

Coy Paper has been awarded the distribution rights for New Star Chemical's Hardindo Anti Fire Products. These include AF11, AF21, and AF31. Currently, the company is focusing on the AF21 product which is a colorless water based solution. Once applied, the sub straight is fire and flame proof and the original functionalities and properties of the item remain in tact.
Yes, this even creates a fire proof paper or card board grade!
The chemical is non-toxic, non-corrosive, biodegradable, and completely environmentally friendly.
The chemical offers permanent protection from fire once applied, Harindo AF21 will protect your home and family, hotels, night clubs, schools, libraries and museums, etc. from the ever present danger of fire, giving you peace of mind 24 hours a day. Contact Coy Paper at info@coypaper.com for more information.

International Paper Joins Pricing Increase for Containerboard

International Paper joined Georgia Pacific, Pratt, and Longview by announcing a $50/ton (East Coast) and $70/ton (West Coast) containerboard price hike for January. Coy Paper now assumes the other major producers Temple-Inland, Packaging Corp of America , Rock-Tenn, and Greif will follow. The price of containerboard had decreased $70-80/ton since last November 2008.

Four Magazines Partner up to Go Online

Time, Conde Nast, Hearst and Meredith are in discussions to partner and form a new company to create online access to magazines. The new entity will create the digital formats and develop an iTunes-like storefront, controlling distribution, pricing and profits.