Lana paper mill to close

More sad news from the world of paper...

In April, Lana Papier, based in Strasbourg entered into an insolvency procedure and now, in the absence of a rescue deal or buyer for the business, a liquidation process began last month. The mill is now closed and machinery awaiting a buyer.

Lana made a range of specialist and bespoke papers spanning security, labels, publishing, technical, fine art and stationery papers, including the Distincton and Director brands of watermarked stationery papers.

This is very sad news both for the owners and the 67 staff at the mill but also for the industry.

You can read the full Printweek article here... 

https://www.printweek.com/news/article/specialist-papermaker-shuttered

Posted by Justin Hobson 10.07.2023

Print companies insolvencies on the increase...

This report has appeared in Printweek today:

Jo Francis at Printweek reports...

"The latest information on company insolvencies in England and Wales from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) showed that, during a time of persistently high energy prices, more than one in ten businesses overall reported a “moderate-to-severe risk of insolvency” in August. The number of insolvencies has been on the rise since last year. During 2020 and in Q1 2021 many firms that would otherwise have failed were kept afloat by government support measures such as the furlough scheme. In Q2 2022 the total number of insolvent companies was 5,629, the highest level since Q3 2009. The category of ‘printing and reproduction of recorded media, accounted for around 10% of insolvencies in the manufacturing industry in H1. In Q2 49 printing firms went bust, the highest level since Q3 2013."

You can read the full article here:

https://www.printweek.com/news/article/print-insolvencies-on-the-rise

Posted by Justin Hobson 10.10.2022

Unburnable book set to be auctioned

Today an article appeared in Printweek written by Jo Francis about Penguin Random House, who have  created a one-off ‘unburnable’ edition of Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale that will be auctioned for charity on 7th June.

The article is reproduced below...

PRINTWEEK

Jo Francis 

Friday, May 27, 2022 

Penguin Random House has created a one-off ‘unburnable’ edition of Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale that will be auctioned for charity.

The publisher said the volume had been printed and bound using “fireproof materials” and described the edition as “completely unburnable”. 

“Across the United States and around the world, books are being challenged, banned, and even burned. So we created a special edition of a book that’s been challenged and banned for decades,” the publisher stated. 

The print specification involved: a black Cinefoil dust jacket, white heat shield foil pages, section sewn with nickel wire, phenolic hard cover, stainless steel head and tail bands, and Kapton high temperature adhesive. 

“Printed and bound using fireproof materials, this edition of Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale was made to be completely unburnable. It is designed to protect this vital story and stand as a powerful symbol against censorship,” Penguin Random House said. 

The book will be presented for auction by Sotheby’s New York from 23 May to 7 June with all proceeds going to benefit PEN America’s work in support of free expression. 

At the time of writing the current bid was $70.000 (£55,447). 

In a YouTube video about the project, Atwood uses a flamethrower to show the book’s resilience.

My thanks to Printweek for reporting this. You can read the whole article here: 

https://www.printweek.com/news/article/unburnable-book-set-to-be-auctioned

https://unburnablebook.com/

Posted by Justin Hobson 27.05.2022

Printweek - Paper Supply Crisis

I have written before on this blog about the situation in the paper industry, about the shortages and rapid price increases.

A few weeks ago a very interesting article was written by Jo Francis for Printweek magazine covering the situation, which you can read here... 

https://www.printweek.com/briefing/article/navigating-the-paper-supply-crisis

A particularly interesting part of the article is an explanation of how in less than three years, the industry has lost nearly 6 million tonnes of paper & board production, listing the following mill closures and cuts in capacity:

Cuts to capacity – going, going gone – how nearly 6m tonnes per annum of paper production disappeared

Feb 19: Germany’s Scheufelen files for insolvency for the second time in two years. It had produced 140,000 tonnes of premium coated paper per year

Mar 19: Arjowiggins’ largest mill, Bessé-sur-Braye with capacity of 320,000tpa of recycled coated and uncoated papers goes into liquidation after parent Sequana went into administration

Mar 19: Lecta shuts down coated woodfree production on PM 8 (200,000tpa) at its Condat mill, with the intention of converting it to label and packaging papers

May 19: Stora Enso confirms exit from coated woodfree paper market, removing more than a million tonnes of capacity as a result. The 1.08m/tpa Oulu mill in Finland will be converted to packaging board

Feb 20: Sappi Europe says it will close 240,000tpa coated woodfree PM2 at its Stockstadt mill

July 20: UPM closes its Chapelle newsprint mill in France, which produced 240,000 tonnes of newsprint per year

Aug 20: UPM announces it will shut its Kaipola mill in Finland by the end of the year and decommission its three paper machines, an annual reduction of 450,000 tonnes of newsprint and 270,000 tonnes of graphic grades. It also puts a ‘for sale’ sign up at UK newsprint mill UPM Shotton 

Aug 20: SCA says it will exit the publication papers market

Feb 21: SCA makes its last reel of publication paper at its Ortviken paper mill (756,000tpa) where three paper machines were shuttered and the site switched to the production of chemically pre-treated thermo-mechanical pulp (CTMP)

April 21: Stora Enso plans to close its Veitsiluoto (790,000tpa woodfree uncoated paper) and Kvarnsveden (565,000tpa SC magazine paper) mills in Sweden, slashing annual capacity by 35% to 2.6m tonnes

May 21: Zanders Paper goes into liquidation. It had two paper machines and capacity to make 325,000tpa of high gloss, cast coated paper, label papers, and board

Jun 21: Stora Enso sells its 310,000tpa Sachsen newsprint mill in Germany. The new owners will convert it to make containerboard

Sep 21: Newsprint production ceases at 250,000tpa capacity UPM Shotton. The new owner is converting the mill to produce cardboard

An excellent piece of research by Jo Francis, thank you.I suggest you read the whole article online.

https://www.printweek.com/

Posted by Justin Hobson 30.04.2022

Paper price news...

An article written by Jo Francis, published today in Printweek about the recent increase in paper costs...

The fact is that all paper grades are increasing in price, which is very bad news if/when you are trying to convince a client to commit to printing.

You can read the article HERE

https://www.printweek.com/news/article/paper-prices-keep-going-up

Posted by Justin Hobson 19.10.2021

Paper shortages?

...not quite, but there are some supply issues in the market!

At this time of year, there is usually a seasonal spike in demand, however this year millions of tonnes of commercial and publication papermaking capacity is being taken out of the market. Pulp prices have also increased sharply this year. Earlier this year I wrote about the closure of two StoraEnso mills in Kvarnsveden and Veitsiluoto mills which will actually cease production in the next couple of months, which takes more than a million tonnes of paper production out of the market.

The result is that papers which would normally be available from a mill in 4 weeks may now take 8 or 10 weeks, so planning ahead is a very smart idea!

You can read the Printweek article here...

https://www.printweek.com/news/article/paper-supply-crunch-buyers-urged-to-plan-well-ahead

Posted by Justin Hobson 27.09.2021