International Paper to Convert a Paper Machine

International Paper reported they will stop the manufacture of uncoated paper production at its Florida pulp and paper mill in May to begin conversion to lightweight linerboard machine. The equipment currently produces 350,000 tons of paper and after the conversion it will make 500,000 tons per year of light weight linerboard.

Quick look back on Uncoated Woodfree market

Uncoated free sheet prices have remained relatively stable through 2006 year end. While a bit of erosion had occurred at back end of year on the margin, merchants suggesting that price is holding better than we expected. All eyes
are on Domtar. How quickly will the new global #1 rationalize supply?

Digital Printing Continues to Grow

In 2010, a recent report forecasted Digital Printing market will account for 921 billion impressions which will generate annual revenues of $73billion. The POD (print on demand) market currently enjoys growing attention in the printing industry because it yields less overhead, faster turn around, and allows for shorter runs. A personalized marketing piece can be printed in one process. While digital presses and short run printing may offer higher unit pricing compare to web printing, the benefit is zero waste, fast turn around, low cost on repeat jobs, and a higher marketing response.
Paper.com has many Digital papers available and ready for immediate shipment. The company has grades for all the major print engines such as Oce, Hewlett Packard, AGFA, Xerox, Canon, Hiedelberg.

New Owner and more Money for SMART Papers

As previously reported, With a new owner in the investment advisory firm, Plainfield Asset Management, and the resulting influx of capital, SMART Papers has exited Chapter 11 reorganization. SMART Paper produces writing and commercial paper. This became official on Thursday, january 4, 2006

Plainfield recently assumed $40million of SMART’S debt and just invested another $500,000 into operations. The company sold its distribution center in Illinois and the mill in Wisconsin. The mill employees 520 people and has a capacity for 120,000 tons per year of production.

SMART is now expanding production on all three of the papermaking machines at its manufacturing center in Ohio. SMART Papers is now producing its full line of cast-coated, matte-coated and uncoated text, cover and writing papers.

Competition Deepens in Retail for Cut Size (copy) Paper

InfoTrends’ new forecast on U.S. cut size paper distribution channels indicates that while paper merchants, office superstores, and contract stationer divisions will remain power houses for moving paper, the Internet, computer superstores, and mass merchandisers are expected to gain more presence as a source for paper.
General merchandise stores and mass merchandisers will increase the amount of paper that they sell due to the sheer number of stores and the convenience of being able to purchase paper along with other goods. The Internet, however, is the only channel expected to show double-digit growth in terms of cut size tons distribution between 2005 and 2010.
Quick printers have also emerged as a source of cut size paper. As a complement to their traditional business, quick printers including FedEx/Kinkos are emphasizing their ability to capture supplies business at retail and on-line due to their number of store locations and access to product. Staples is also opening stand-alone quick printer locations that stock a limited number of office products SKUs including paper.
“Cut size paper is a low margin, high volume market which is very competitive and price sensitive,” commented Cathy Martin, a consultant at InfoTrends. “Heavy cartons of paper can be expensive to move efficiently, and this has forced channels such as office machine dealers, forms distributors and manufacturers, and small storefronts to reconsider their roles in selling paper.”
Paper.com carries all the major mill’s copy paper lines. They have these products in stock and ready for immediate delivery.

First Look Back at 2006 in Paper?

Looking for the forest products “story” on 2006? How about “supply matters”? While much of the industry saw modest
volume gains in the 2006, the real driver behind industry recovery was “supply”. As the Canadian dollar rose and pulp mills stopped production across Canada, the global rebound in market pulp prices went further and faster than
expected. Many USA mills also curtailed paper production of less efficient equipment . Uncoated white paper producers saw only modest improvement in demand (+0.4% thru November), but capacity shutdowns tightened the market and helped raise prices by roughly $150/ton in the past year. The biggest surprise of 2006 was in recycled boxboard where Cascades almost single-handedly put the market back into balance by acquiring & rationalizing marginal mills.

With the economy now slowing, managing supply should prove to be even a bigger issue in 2007. For the moment, much of the attention is focused on 2 areas: wood products and uncoated white paper. A dramatic drop in the housing market along with new supply has tanked most lumber and panel prices over the past 7-8 months. How quickly will producers move to permanently rationalize supply? In uncoated paper, all eyes are on Domtar. How quickly and how dramatically will Domtar rationalize capacity once its acquisition of Weyerhaeuser's fine paper business is complete? In addition, newsprint producers are almost certainly headed for more consolidation and rationalization in 2007. Supply discipline will also be critical if containerboard producers hope to maintain prices in the face of slowing box demand. Based on late December “channel checks” around the industry, news on both containerboard and uncoated white paper pricing appears a bit better than we expected.
What to look for in 2007 for the industry?
- More rationalization in white paper,
- More consolidation in containerboard,
- More pain in building materials,
-Weyerhaeuser restructuring story,
- MeadWestvaco's land plan.

Smart Paper’s Reorganization Plan Approved

The U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware has approved Smart Papers LLC’s reorganization plan which will allow the specialty papers company to emerge from Chapter 11 by the end of December. Under the plan, 92.5% of the company’s shares will be issued to an affiliate of Plainfield Asset Management LLC, which assumed as much as $40 million of Smart Papers’ debt in August. The remaining shares will be used to pay off unsecured claim holders. Smart Papers was created in 2001 when investment group Sun Capital Partners bought Champion’s former Hamilton mill from International Paper.

Uncoated Freesheet Market

The market pricing for uncoated offset fell approximately $10/ton early this month while copy paper prices have remained stable. This suggests that the downtime taken by produces have assisted during this traditional weak holiday period. The industry agrees that a tentative supply curtailment of 4-500,000 tons for 2007 is required to correct the market.
Paper.com markets paper for all the major mills.

Top Printers Announced by Printing Impressions Magazine

Printing Impressions Magazine ranked the top printers
1 RRDonnelly
2 Quebecor World
3 FedEx-Kinko
4 Quad Graphics
5 Transcontinental
Top Book Printers
1 Visant
2 Quebecor World
3 Banta
4 Bertelsmann
5 Courier
Top Publication Printers
1 Quebecor World
2 QuadGraphics
3 Brown Printing
4 Cadmus
5 Banta
Top Catalog Printers
1 QuadGraphics
2 Quebecor World
3 Arandell
4 Banta
5 Perry Judd
Top Direct mail
1 Quebecor World
2 Banta
3 Visant
4 IWCO Direct
5 Japs-Olson

Softwood Pulp considering an Increase in Price

North American producers of Northern bleached softwood pulp used widely in papermaking plan to post a list-price increase of $20/metric ton in January. Softwood pulp now lists for $770/metric ton in North America—and sells for about $100 less. A year ago, Northern bleached softwood kraft listed for $639, and sold for $570. Softwood pulp marketers insists that supplies are closing the year tighter than expected and orders for future deliveries have been booked well above current pricing.

Russia could be next big paper producer

Russia forest industry has great potential considering its forests extend from the Baltic Sea to the Pacific Ocean and make up over 20% of the world’s forestland. The equates to more than the size of Canada and Brazil combined.

World’s Largest Newsprint Machine to Start up

Shandong Chenming Paper in Shouguang City, China will start its new world class newsprint producing paper machine. The machine supplier, Metso, stated the equipment has capacity for 480,000 tons per year.

Felix Schoeller Paper enters Digital Paper market

The Felix Schoeller Mill in Pulaski, New York will spend more than $4million in production equipment and facilities upgrades to produce digital papers. The mill’s management sites a large increase in demand for digital papers.
Paper.com has all the popular digital papers in stock and ready for immediate shipment.

Smart Paper files plan to Emerge from Chapter 11

The Smart Paper Company announced it would file a plan to emerge from Chapter 11. The company, which produces grades such as Kromekote, Benefit, and Carnival, sold controlling interest to Plainfield Capital – a hedge fund. The secured creditors will be issued $5million; unsecured creditors will be issued shares in the new company; and, International Paper (former mill owner) will be issued $1.6million in cash. The mill, located in Hamilton, Ohio produces 93,000tons per year. Paper.com distributes all of the Smart Paper grades.

NewPage Announces Shut Down

NewPage Paper has announced it will shut down a paper machine in Luke, Maryland. This is a coated machine and the demand for this paper has declined. Additionally, the company will take some market related downtime in the Rumsford, Maine mill. Specifically, the No 11 machines, producing 300 coated tons per day, will effectively eliminate 25,000 tons during the shutdown.

Vietnam is Building Pulp and Paper Capacity

The Viet Nam Paper Association recently announced it would invest $1.85billionUSD in both expanding and building pulp and paper machines from 2006 through 2010. The Vietnamese paper industry intends to focus on large scale pulp and paper mills with advanced technologies and modern equipment.

Wall Street Journal to Reduce Size

The Wall Street Journal has joined so many other newspapers and is reducing the size of the physical paper. This redesign includes cutting 3 inches off its width. This is roughly equivalent to One column. Other major newspapers have also cut their width in recent years as a way to save money, including The Washington Post, Tribune Co.'s Los Angeles Times and Gannett Co.'s USA Today. The New York Times is planning to reduce its width in 2008. Dow Jones believes they will save $18million dollars/year.
These changes will take effect on January 2.

Xerox Adds Lightweight Digital Paper to Line

Xerox recently added a 60lbs text stock to its Digital Color Select Gloss paper line. The sheet features a 90 brightness blue/white shade and is offered in 17x11 and 18x12” sizes.
Paper.com carries all the Xerox paper grades.

Mohawk Successfully Markets new BriteHue line

Mohawk completely revised the BriteHue line of papers and is enjoying excellent
success with new sales. The bold and vivid colors make a powerful impact for
any printed piece. The product line now includes 20lbs smooth finish, 60lbs text, and 65lbs semi Vellum finish. The grade now has 17 colors – 10 of which are produced with 30% recycled content from post consumer fiber.
Paper.com has all the Mohawk products, in stock and ready for immediate shipment.

Pulp Market Update

Over the past several months, hardwood pulp worldwide inventories have been climbing, while the softwood inventories have been falling. There have been many mill closures with the softwood manufacturers, and the industry has witnessed and overcapacity of Hardwood production. Many of the eucalyptus pulp producers are building new capacity
and this will displace hardwood supply.
Pricing, to date, for pulp has risen steadily since the 4Q05 and has just stabilized over the
past few months.