Read the full story here: https://www.printweek.com/content/news/end-of-the-line-for-kabel-mill
Posted by Justin Hobson 28.05.2025
Showing posts with label Printweek. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Printweek. Show all posts
Wednesday, 28 May 2025
Another paper mill closes...
Monday, 8 July 2024
Have bike (& printing press) will travel!
Nick Hand, designer and letterpress printer at the Department of Small Works in Bristol, is embarking on another of his epic cycle rides...
As Printweek reports...
Cycling printer Nick Hand will return to the road for a new tour of the UK on his custom-built letterpress bicycle. Armed with an Adana 8x5 letterpress affixed to his custom-frame bike, Hand will make three cycling tours to visit public libraries throughout the UK.
At each library, Hand will print bespoke bookmarks that celebrate each library, and famous figures who used them.
Now 67, he is an experienced hand at touring the Adana press, having pedalled his press-bike hybrid all the way to printing progenitor Gutenburg’s birthplace in Mainz, Germany in 2014; from Land’s End to John O’Groats in 2017; and most recently around festivals throughout the UK in 2022...
You can read the full Printweek article HERE.
https://www.departmentofsmallworks.co.uk/
Posted by Justin Hobson 08.07.2024
Tuesday, 10 October 2023
Rare £5 for auction
An exceptionally rare £5 banknote, printed in 1900, is expected to fetch up to £16,000 when auctioned at Noonans’ auction house in Mayfair on 12 October.
Unusually, the note was issued in Leeds, and signed by Horace G. Bowen the Bank of England’s chief cashier from 1893 to 1902.
“This is a great note,” said Andrew Pattison, Noonans’ head of banknotes.
“Very few Bowen notes are in private hands, especially from this exceptionally rare Leeds branch. "The York hand stamp shows part of the journey of the note, issued in Leeds and paid into a bank at some point in York.” Before coming to its present owner, the note was sold by British businessman and collector, David Kirch, who at one point had assembled the UK’s largest collection of provincial banknotes. Pattison added: “This is not the first Leeds note that Noonans has sold. An extremely rare £500 note dated 1936 was sold for a hammer price of £24,000 in March of this year.” The £5 Leeds note will go up for sale alongside several other rare notes, including an 1862 £5 note, valued at £10,000–£15,000 and a £50 note from 1845, valued at £15,000–£20,000. A very early example of a £2 note will also be up for sale, dated to 1798, and is expected to fetch up to £16,000. All four notes were printed at the Bank of England’s central london Threadneedle Street printworks, where all paper notes were printed from 1791 to 1917, when printing moved to the former Lunatic Hospital of St Luke’s in Old Street.
“Very few Bowen notes are in private hands, especially from this exceptionally rare Leeds branch. "The York hand stamp shows part of the journey of the note, issued in Leeds and paid into a bank at some point in York.” Before coming to its present owner, the note was sold by British businessman and collector, David Kirch, who at one point had assembled the UK’s largest collection of provincial banknotes. Pattison added: “This is not the first Leeds note that Noonans has sold. An extremely rare £500 note dated 1936 was sold for a hammer price of £24,000 in March of this year.” The £5 Leeds note will go up for sale alongside several other rare notes, including an 1862 £5 note, valued at £10,000–£15,000 and a £50 note from 1845, valued at £15,000–£20,000. A very early example of a £2 note will also be up for sale, dated to 1798, and is expected to fetch up to £16,000. All four notes were printed at the Bank of England’s central london Threadneedle Street printworks, where all paper notes were printed from 1791 to 1917, when printing moved to the former Lunatic Hospital of St Luke’s in Old Street.
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| Image credit: Noonans |
By 1920, the former hospital had been fully converted into a recognisably modern printworks, with concrete floors, three large machinery halls and amenities for staff.
The Bank now prints notes at its purpose-built site in Debden, Essex, where print operations have been handled since the 1950s. Its partner De La Rue operates the site under contract.
Read the whole story on Printweek here...
Posted by Justin Hobson 10.10.22
Tuesday, 25 July 2023
UPM plans to close its Plattling Mill in Germany.
You can read the full article on Pritweek here...
Posted by Justin Hobson 25.07.2023
Monday, 10 July 2023
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...
Posted by Justin Hobson 10.07.2023
Friday, 27 January 2023
Another paper mill goes bankrupt...
Another sad piece of news for the paper industry...
The independent paper mill operates runs two paper machines producing around 180,000 tonnes of paper per year and they employ over 250 people.
In line with other recent business failures, the management blames increased costs in energy and raw materials.
I am writing about this, not to be a 'doom-monger' but just to make the readers of this blog aware of the situation in the paper and print industry, which is a global phenomenon. Last year I wrote about the paper supply crisis and about the way the energy crisis was affecting the paper market and about the sad demise of UK papermaker Arjo Wiggins in September.
You can read the full Printweek article here...
Posted by Justin Hobson 27.01.2023
NEWS UPDATE 10.02.23
CVG has been rescued! which is excellent news. Read more here...
Monday, 10 October 2022
Print companies insolvencies on the increase...
This report has appeared in Printweek today:
"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."
Jo Francis at Printweek reports...
You can read the full article here:
Posted by Justin Hobson 10.10.2022
Friday, 23 September 2022
Arjowiggins Mills go into adminstration
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| https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-63001007 |
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| https://www.printweek.com/news/article/administrators-take-charge-at-historic-arjo-mills |
As a result of this situation there may well be shortages for some of these papers. At Fenner Paper, we are increasing our stockholding, especially of our Stardream range (which is a competitor product to Curious Metallics) our Zeta range of premium business stationery paper, our Colorset text and cover coloured paper range and of course our Spectral transparent paper range.
Posted by Justin Hobson 23.09.2022
Tuesday, 6 September 2022
The paper market and energy crisis
Regular readers will have heard about paper shortages and massively increasing prices, which I have written about on this blog before. However, given the extreme price increases for energy last week, the situation is even more critical... 
I suggest you read the full Printweek article HERE.
As well as the paper mills listed in the article, the Lessebo mill in Sweden announced they would only be producing on a daily basis, depending on the energy costs for that day. Read the article HERE.
It's a very distressing situation and one that sadly affects all of us that are involved in design, print and paper. Please remember to discuss projects well ahead of time and also when talking to clients, suggest you build in a contingency in case the price of the project increases due to energy prices.
Posted by Justin Hobson 06.09.2022
Friday, 27 May 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:
Posted by Justin Hobson 27.05.2022
Friday, 6 May 2022
Mondi announces Russia Exit
I have written on this blog before about the fact that Mondi was supporting the Russian economy and their war machine by continuing to manufacture paper in Russia. The good news is that Mondi has finally confirmed that it plans to divest its Russian operations because of the country's invasion of Ukraine.
It's a tough decision but I think we can all appreciate it is the right thing to do. Well don to the Mondi board for making the right call.
You can read the full Printweek article here:
Posted by Justin Hobson 06.05.2022
Saturday, 30 April 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.
Posted by Justin Hobson 30.04.2022
Thursday, 3 March 2022
Ukraine - Make a difference NOW!
I'm sure most of us working in the graphic arts industry, whether a designer, printer or paperperson have wondered if there is anything positive that we can do to help with the Ukrainian-Russian war ...well now there is!
An article appeared in PrintWeek yesterday which highlights a global paper manufacturer who is still producing paper in Russia. The company is called Mondi and are one of the largest paper and packaging companies in the world with manufacturing facilities and offices all around the world including facilities in Russia which employ 5,300 people.
Secondly you can boycott Mondi products. Stop buying, specifying or using any Mondi products until they suspend their activities in Russia. In printing/graphics you may be familiar with their brands Color Copy, Nautilus Recycled and Pergraphica. Color Copy is the largest brand used in offices and copy shops and seen everywhere.
In my opinion we should all be putting Mondi under pressure to suspend production in Russia. It is only by large corporates like Mondi (turnover £5.5 Billion!) exerting pressure such as this on the Russian Government that could make a difference. It will affect the Russian economy and also get more people in Russia talking about the situation.
I have been racking my brains as to any contribution that I can make to this struggle and here (thanks to PrintWeek) there is something that all of us in the graphic arts can do!
Firstly, please email the CEO and Chairman of the Mondi Group (who I believe are both based in their Surrey headquarters)
CEO is: andrew.king@mondigroup.com
Chairman is: philip.yea@mondigroup.com
Jenny Hampshire is the Company Secretary and is listed as the Governance contact: jenny.hampshire@mondigroup.com
https://www.mondigroup.com/en/
Please email these people - get everyone you know to email them asking them "as a global leader in paper and packaging we ask you to demonstrate real leadership and suspend production at your sites in Russia" Flood their email boxes - PLEASE
Please use twitter, facebook, instagram and whatever social media you can to get the message across.
If you are a printer - tell your paper merchant you won't be buying a Mondi product until they have suspended operations in Russia. If you are a designer or project manager, make sure you don't specify any of their products. If you are in packaging, make sure that packaging is not being supplied by Mondi. Antalis is one of the large Mondi distributors in the UK.
This is something we can all do which might just help a bit - it won't take much time to do ...and if you don't think you've got time, just imagine you've heard gunfire outside your window - that's what it's like for those poor people in Ukraine right now, so spend 5 minutes of your time and send some emails - it might just make a difference.
You can read the story in PrintWeek here: https://www.printweek.com/news/article/mondi-updates-on-ukraine-russia
Please note: I have nothing against Mondi. This is not personal. We have worked with Mondi in the past and they are a very nice company to work with - but they are in the situation where they can make a difference, so we must tell them!
UPDATE on 4th March - article in The Times https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/c1855f14-9afd-11ec-8194-a993851c15ba?shareToken=84ac5bf545ddd88bda72c70ddc58cda3
Posted by Justin Hobson 03.03.2022
PS - for comparison, there is another global paper company called StoraEnso (interestingly some people consider Stora Enso to be the oldest limited liability company in the world having been incorporated in 1288!). Stora Enso is stopping all production and sales in Russia until further notice due to the ongoing invasion in Ukraine. Good for them! You can read more HERE
Tuesday, 25 January 2022
Paper shortages and increasing prices...
Here is some important background information from the print and paper industry...
I wrote an article on this blog in September about paper shortages. Now, as then, there are many reasons for the current supply issues. Last year, over a million tonnes of coated commercial and publication papermaking capacity was taken out of the market by StoraEnso (announced in 2018) with machines being converted to pulp and flexible packaging. Pulp prices have also increased sharply and energy prices have gone stratospheric!
Also, last year two StoraEnso mills in Kvarnsveden and Veitsiluoto mills ceased production (a further million tonnes of graphical paper production out of the market) and Zanders also stopped production - and these are just the ones I can recall!
...and to cap it all there is a a long running strike by the Finnish Paperworkers Union joined recently by UK workers too.
So, it is hardly surprising that there are shortages, so please remember to discuss projects well ahead of time, otherwise you may be disappointed!
You can read the full PrintWeek article here...
Posted by Justin Hobson 25.01.2022
Tuesday, 19 October 2021
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
Posted by Justin Hobson 19.10.2021
Monday, 27 September 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...
Posted by Justin Hobson 27.09.2021
Monday, 10 May 2021
Zanders Mill closes
There is very sad news that Zanders, the German papermaker has closed. Zanders has been known for its high gloss, cast coated Chromolux range of paper, label papers, and board of which we are the stockist and UK distributor. The mill has been badly hit by the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, which resulted in a decline in sales.
You can read the whole article (including quotes from me!) here: https://www.printweek.com/news/article/end-of-the-line-for-historic-papermaker
Zanders was founded by Johann Wilhelm Zanders in Bergisch Gladbach in 1829 and the Zanders family and name was a major force in the German paper industry until the 1980's when 'merger mania' meant the large groups in the industry were just getting bigger and bigger. Designers and printers working in the 70's 80's and 90's will remember the reputation of the Ikono range with Ikonofix and Ikonorex which were exceptional high quality 'real art' coated art papers which were then joined by the well marketed MegaMatt in the 1990's. The UK agent during that period was John Heyer Paper, who some people may remember.
Yet another very sad day in the paper industry...
PLEASE NOTE: The Reflex Paper Mill which used to be part of Zanders is a separate mill, also based in Cologne and they are nothing to do with Zanders and are not affected. They produce the Zeta range, Trevi label papers, Efalin and Elefantenhaut covering and Spectral translucent papers.
Posted by Justin Hobson 10.05.2021
Wednesday, 21 April 2021
The worst day in the paper industry, so far...
I don't wish to be over dramatic, or a gloomy doom monger, but this news today is the worst that I can ever remember in my career...
I'm not sure the Printweek headline conveys the gravity of the situation. StoraEnso are one of the largest pulp and paper producers in the world and they have announced that they are closing two mills (Veitsiluoto and Kvarnsveden) which account for over 1.3 million tonnes of paper - and that's not including the pulp production that is also going. This is truly dreadful news and sadly includes well over 1,000 job losses.
You can read the full article in Printweek HERE.
You can also read about it in the Financial Times here:
These closures are on top of the fact that StoraEnso pulled out of coated paper production last year with a reduction of 1 million tonnes of two sided coated paper.
Last year I wrote an article on this blog about the state of the industry HERE.
We have dealt with StoraEnso for decades and we feel terrible for those people who are set to lose their jobs. These are incredibly difficult times in the paper industry but sadly inevitable as the ongoing contraction of our industry is set to continue for many years to come.
Posted by Justin Hobson 21.04.2021
Wednesday, 25 September 2019
ArjoWiggins mills saved in UK
Today it has been announced that the two remaining UK paper mills of the ArjoWiggins group have been bought in a buyout by the management of the failed mills. This is excellent news for the UK paper industry, saving over 500 jobs.
You can read more here on the Printweek site:
I have previously written about ArjoWiggins when they went into administration here and when their mill in France closed here, taking with them products that many were familiar with including Cyclus, Cocoon, Chromomatt, Satimatt etc...
This buyout involves two UK paper mills, Stoneywood, based in Scotland and Chartham, based in Kent. This is very positive news for the UK and it is great that the management finally managed to convince the banks that it was a risk worth taking. Apparently significant financial backing has also been received from the economic development agency Scottish Enterprise. In these strange political times, it will be interesting to see how the Scottish parliament will view the Scottish development agency propping up a paper mill based in Kent!
Recent history demonstrates that many paper mills that come out of administration often don't make it and go bust again, Let's hope that is not the case for these mills and they can make a positive contribution to the UK economy.
Posted by Justin Hobson 25.09.2019
Saturday, 30 March 2019
ArjoWiggins - news update
Yesterday, there was a ruling by the court in France, who had the final decision on the offers that had been made by the various interested parties interested in buying the business or parts of the business.
Unfortunately the outcome is far from positive. The largest mill in Bessé-sur-Braye (Sarthe), which employs over 550 employees is to be closed. The various offers and recovery plans were unable to raise the necessary capital (15 million Euros was needed) and therefore must now close. Amongst others, the mill makes Cocoon, Cyclus, Maine, Satimat and Chromomat.
The French court approved the plan for the takeover of the Le Bourray mill, located in Saint-Mars-la-Brière, by a local company CGMP which is a manufacturer of towels, tablecloths, paper rolls and is a long time customer of the mill. The good news is that they will retain over 100 of the original 260 employees, however the mill will cease production of all graphical papers which also includes part of the Cyclus range.
So will this mean the end of Cyclus? In terms of the manufacturing, the mills are closing, so that is that; but the chances are that some company will buy the Cyclus brand and keep it on the market. In fact Cyclus has only been made at these French mills since 2012! Cyclus was originally conceived in the mid 1990's at a Danish paper mill called Dalum, which was bought by ArjoWiggins in 2007 and subsequently closed by them after transferring production to their mills in France with the loss of 260 Danish jobs, which I wrote about here.
This recent news shows what a bad state the paper manufacturing world is in. The combination of decreasing demand and higher energy and raw material costs including both pulp and chemicals means that all manufacturers are having a rough time.
So what of ArjoWiggins Creative Papers in the UK with paper mills at Stoneywood (Scotland) and Chartham (Kent)? Apparently the administrators are conducting due diligence with a "preferred bidder" however it is worth remembering that this was the case with the French mills up to last week. Stoneywood makes ranges such as Keaycolour, Curious, Olin, Popset, Conqueror etc and Chartham makes translucent (tracing paper). I can't make a guess as to whether the mills will survive; certainly it is a matter of record that a multi million pound investment is needed for a new power plant at the Stoneywood mill which has just under 500 employees. ArjoWiggins also owns a mill in Quzhou (China) where they make the same tracing paper products (reputedly much cheaper) so although the brands certainly have value, who knows if the banks will support a bidder looking to buy these mills.
Antalis is a separate listed company but a majority shareholding is held by Sequana (the holding company which own ArjoWiggins). However on 21st March, Sequana filed for bankruptcy to protect themselves and to give them time to "restructure" the Antalis shareholding (this means selling shares to anyone else other than Sequana). How will this go? Given the fact that it was only in 2017 that Antalis had to withdraw their 'junk bond' offering to the market due to lack on interest, so maybe things don't look so good. David Hunter (MD of Antalis) has been making positive statements about the future of Antalis as you might expect. You can read more following these links here...
https://www.printweek.com/print-week/news/1167297/largest-french-arjo-mill-to-liquidate-as-two-more-sold-on
https://www.printweek.com/print-week/news/1167209/arjo-admin-reports-reveal-full-scope-of-debt
https://www.printweek.com/print-week/news/1167220/antalis-md-speaks-out-on-sequana-arjo-situation
With thanks to Printweek.
Posted by Justin Hobson 30.03.2019
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