News & Events
Link: The Future of Green Offices May Be Rewritable Paper
(January 10, 2017) Scientists have hacked a standard inkjet printer to create multicolor images that can be erased and reprinted eight times on the same sheet of paper.
A team of Chinese researchers recently combined some nifty chemistry with a standard inkjet printer to create multicolor images that can be printed and erased eight times using a single sheet of rewritable paper. The findings [“Dynamic metal-ligand coordination for multicolour and water-jet rewritable paper”] were reported in the journal Nature Communications. Read More...
Link: A ‘Paperless World’ – Why It Still Hasn’t Happened
(Chicago, USA, January 04, 2018) David J Unger of The Guardian covers the Paper2017 (Chicago) networking event to find out why we are still far away from a paperless world? Here's his often-humorous outsider's look at the status of paper in a digital world.
To read the article Go To: American reams: why a ‘paperless world’ still hasn’t happened (Source: The Clifford Report)
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Link: China’s Double-Digit Trade Jump Pairs Global and Domestic Demand
(New York, 8 December 2017) China’s trade engine remained in high gear with a surprise export surge accompanied by further acceleration in imports that signals robust demand in the domestic economy.
Exports rose 12.3 percent in November in dollar terms, the customs administration said Friday, exceeding all economist estimates in a Bloomberg survey where the median estimate was for a 5.3 percent rise. Imports also beat projections with a 17.7 percent increase, widening the trade surplus to $40.2 billion.
“The robust Read More...
Oji Group to Install New Containerboard Machine at GS Paperboard & Packaging in Malaysia
(Tokyo, Japan, Dec. 28, 2017) Oji Holdings Corporation announced that it will install a new containerboard machine at GS Paperboard & Packaging Sdn Bhd (GSPP) located in Malaysia.
The new machine will produce liner and corrugated medium and have a production capacity of 450,000 tons per year.
In a press release the company said, “Oji Group sets ‘Expansion of Overseas Business’ as a fundamental policy of its management strategies, and its corrugated container business has continued to expand in Southeast Asia Read More...
Graphic Packaging Completes Combination with International Paper’s North America Consumer Packaging Business
(USA, Jan. 2, 2018) Graphic Packaging Holding Company has completed the combination of Graphic Packaging’s existing businesses with International Paper’s North America Consumer Packaging business. Graphic Packaging owns 79.5 percent of the combined company and will be the sole manager. International Paper will own 20.5 percent of the combined company. Graphic Packaging has assumed $660 million of International Paper debt and concurrently has amended and restated its senior secured credit agreement.
There is no change to Graphic Packaging’s current Board Read More...
SCA to Increase Prices for Brown and White Kraftliner in Europe
(Stockholm, Sweden, Jan. 3, 2018) SCA announced that it will increase the prices for all Brown and White Kraftliner grades in Europe by EUR60 per ton, effective from 1 February 2018. “The market for containerboard continues to be very strong. The demand for kraftliner of all grades is high and the supply is tight,” explained Mikael Frölander, Vice President Sales and Marketing Containerboard. SCA is a leading global hygiene and forest products company. To learn more, please visit: www.sca.com Read More...
Bain Capital Private Equity Acquires Specialty Papers Producer Fedrigoni
(USA, Jan 4, 2018) Bain Capital Private Equity on Dec. 23, 2017 announced that it signed a definitive agreement to acquire Fedrigoni, a leading global producer of specialty papers and self-adhesive labels. The Fedrigoni family will retain a minority stake in the business.
Established in 1888 and headquartered in Verona, Italy, Fedrigoni is expected to generate sales of approximately EUR1.1 billion. The company has manufacturing facilities in Italy (9), Spain (2) and Brazil (2) and a global distribution network, with Read More...
Schreiner MediPharm presents digital and analog pharma-security solutions
(Stockholm, Jan 08, 2017) The countdown is on: On February 9, 2019, EU Directive 2011/62/EU will come into effect. It aims to stop illegal trade in falsified medicines. From then onwards, pharmaceutical manufacturers have to provide secondary packaging of all medicines placed on the market with an individual serial number as well as an anti-tampering device to ensure the integrity of the medicinal packaging: a challenge that should not be underestimated and demands customized and efficient solutions.
At Pharmapack in Read More...
Emerging markets boost the industrial nonwovens market
(U.K., 28 Dec 2017) Exclusive data from the new Smithers Pira report - The Future of Industrial Nonwovens to 2022 - reveals global sales of nonwovens for industrial applications in 2017 reached $20.9 billion. This is set to grow annually by 7%, across 2017-2022 reaching a value $29.2 billion in 2022.
Industrial nonwovens tend to be relative newcomers to industrial users, being employed to replace textiles, paper, polyurethane foam, fibreglass and plastics. The current generation of industrial nonwovens is higher-performing, Read More...
Huhtamaki to Further Improve Its Competitiveness in China
(Helsinki, Finland, Dec. 28, 2017) Huhtamaki has completed the sale of the vacated manufacturing facility and related land usage rights in Guangzhou, China, as announced on April 21, 2017. Further, to conclude the consolidation of its foodservice packaging operations in South China, Huhtamaki closed down the manufacturing unit in Shandong, China, impacting about 200 jobs. The product range manufactured in Shandong will in the future be sourced externally.
In addition, to gain synergies from the recent acquisition of International Paper’s Read More...
Moody’s: Wood product growth supports 2018 stable outlook, offsetting commodity paper decline
(Toronto, December 12, 2017) The likelihood of strong profits from the wood products business, alongside higher prices and growth in paper packaging from increased e-commerce demand, will help to offset the secular declines in the printing and writing paper segment, says Moody’s Investors Service in its annual sector outlook published today. As a result, the outlook for the global paper and forest products sector will remain stable in 2018.
“The stable outlook for paper and forest products globally next year Read More...
Södra to increase the price of NBSK in Europe to USD 1070/tonne
(Sweden, Dec. 22, 2017) Södra Cell to increase NBSK pulp price to $1,070/tonne in Europe, effective Jan 1, 2018. “The global pulp market is searching for an equilibrium, but it has clearly not reached that point yet,” commented Magnus Björkman, VP Marketing and Sales Södra Cell. “On the contrary the market remains exceptionally strong and this latest announcement is a reflection of the continuing market sentiment.” (Source: press release) Read More...
End of the road for newsprint maker Norske Skog; to file for bankruptcy
(Oslo, Dec. 19, 2017) The board of the parent company for Norway’s long-troubled forestry firm Norske Skog announced that they are declaring Norske Skogindustrier AS insolvent and filed for bankruptcy in an Oslo court on Tuesday Dec. 19. However, the company announced that operations at the company’s seven paper mills would continue as usual.
The board of Norske Skog has for months been trying to avoid bankruptcy and has pushed back multiple times deadlines to conclude negotiations with creditors. However, Read More...
AF&PA Urges Chinese Authorities to Keep an Open Market for Recovered Paper Imports; “China has violated their WTO obligations,” says CEO Donna Harman
(Washington DC, December 19, 2017) Advocating for free and fair recovered fiber trade policies with China, American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA) President and CEO Donna Harman announced the association’s filing of formal comments with the World Trade Organization (WTO) and Chinese authorities:
“We believe China has violated their obligations under the WTO and will disrupt international trade and the global market for recovered fiber by their import limiting actions. Specifically, China has mischaracterized certain valuable raw material as ‘solid Read More...
UPM Prepares to Permanently Close Paper Machine 5 at Blandin Mill at Year-end
(Helsinki, December 20, 2017) UPM on Oct. 24 announced plans to permanently close paper machine 5 at UPM Blandin in Minnesota, (USA) in response to overcapacities in the North American paper market. The company today said that all related processes have now been completed, and paper machine 5 will be permanently closed on December 30, 2017 at the latest.
The number of employees affected is 148.
The closure will reduce UPM’s annual capacity of coated magazine paper by approximately 128,000 tons. Read More...