CEPIPRINT & CEPIFINE Merge

Got to be good news for all concerned:

http://www.cepiprint.com/files/CEPIPRINT-CEPIFINE%20merger%20-%20press%20release%20(30-11-2011).pdf

Yet more GOOD news from the Rain Forest

For the uninformed, Veracel is a joint-venture, with StoraEnso being a principal partner, hence the following, must-see video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwrV_yQ46Q0

Stora’s own website ( http://www.storaenso.com/wood-forest/Pages/wood-forest.aspx ) has even more to offer on the subject, even a full-length, interactive version of the YouTube video at http://www.rethinkstoraenso.com/  which all goes toward reassuring the environmentalists (myself included) that many of the ‘big boys’ are NOT responsible for the sort of deforestation and illegal logging that we see all around the tropical belt, but are actually helping to try and re-build what has been lost.

Nanocellulose? What’s that?

It’s not all bad news from the forests. Take about 4 minutes out of your day to view this video, and be prepared to be amazed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDVdWvVSYB0

Any questions?

Tracing the Future

‘Vision & Trends’ website informs us that: “HAMELIN ACQUIRES CANSON MILL FROM ARJO-WIGGINS, FRANCE. Hamelin has completed the acquisition of the Moulin du Roy paper mill in Ardeche, France from Arjowiggins.

Four years after acquiring the Canson brand, the factory manufacturing the products of the brand has now become part of the Hamelin group. In 2007, an exclusive supply agreement had been reached with Arjowiggins, but the acquisition of the Moulin du Roy paper mill will allow Hamelin to secure supplies and to optimize product development and supply chains. The transaction amount was not disclosed.”

I do so hope that they continue to buy their fabulous range of coloured and special effect tracing paper range from Arjo, rather than feel the need to look elsewhere, which may be good for the embattled M-Real Zanders Reflex Mill, but not so good for a certain U.K. mill that specializes in that sort of thing, indeed originated the whole new generation of ‘tracing paper’ that is used for anything but  tracing! I can but direct my readers to the exquisite CURIOUS TRANSLUCENTS range from Arjowiggins, at http://www.curiousstory.com/. Prepare to be amazed.

Not necessarily all the right reasons

It is great to learn that the Government of China has ordered the closing of paper machines (and by inference many mills) to cut production and improve the environmental standing of their much- maligned pulp and paper industry.

Chemical pulp lines with a capacity of less than 51,000 metric tonnes per year (KT p.a.); non-woodpulp lines of less than 34KT p.a.; and recycled fibre lines of less than 10KT p.a., will all have to cease production by the end of this year. That’s pulp, though it’s a kick in the pants for anyone hoping for growth in the alternative fibre pulp field (Bamboo, Kenaf, Rice Straw) where the production numbers are low and need to grow rather than be phased-out.

As to paper-making machines, the cut-off points are machines producing P & W (Printings and Writings) of less than 1.76M, running at less than 120 Metres per minute; and cartonboard and fluting machines of less than 2M width and less than 80 M/minute.

The policies are aimed at reducing pollution, increasing efficiency and reining in China’s overcapacity problem. All very laudable. Likewise China’s updated pollution controls which have been raised, for current as well as proposed new mills, with the powers to shut mills that do not comply.

The report in Pulp & Paper International magazine, goes on to tell that “Media reports show that the city government of Fuyang in China’s eastern province of Zhejiang ordered the closure of 57 outdated paper and board machines in the area by the end of October. The mandatory shutdowns will amount to a total capacity loss of almost 800,000 tonnes/yr, mostly of low-quality cartonboard.” This is good news that The Tiger has teeth, however, “…The city is the hub for low-priced cartonboard in the country, currently running more than 300 paper and board mills with a total capacity of more than 3 million tonnes/yr.” Wow!!!

China is a beautiful country, and her people generous and kind (if you put to one side that they will eat anything that has legs except a table, and anything that flies except an aeroplane), though in many ways unfathomable to Westerners. Plus, this author has it from personal conversation with a member of China’s Forestry Committee, that there is an abundance of trees in China and the West should have no concerns about illegal logging. All well and good, but a Bloomberg report of 21^st. November, 2011 (itself quoting the 21^st. Century Business Herald, in-turn quoting an un-named contact in the Chinese Government) that “Sino-Forest Corp. (TRE), the Chinese timber company accused of fraud by Muddy Waters LLC, plans to increase its timber holdings in China.

Chinese whispers?

Tilting at Windmills (Turbines)

A press release from the mighty Ahlstrom Corporation today reads: Ahlstrom has decided to close its Bishopville plant in the U.S. The plant, which manufactures glassfiber specialty reinforcements, has suffered from weakening demand in the wind energy business in North America. As a result, a total of 74 employees will be affected starting from January 2012

We all know that American politics make hard-work of the enforcement (or even acceptance) of Kyoto, Rio and other environmental agreements, but the decline in wind-farms in the U.S. must be seen as a microcosm of what our Colonial Cousins are really doing, or rather not doing, to protect the environment.

Personally, this author still favours the deserts of Arizona et al  being carpeted with mirrors that catch the abundant energy from the sun and convert it to palpable energy, but then I guess that would have the U.S. oil companies enraged (including BP, which is NOT British, but an amalgam of what was once British Petroleum and the U.S. Exon, but with the Valdez incident inextricably linked with that latter oil company name, it’s small wonder the people who did the re-branding decided that B.P. was a safer bet from a publicity angle, until the Prudhoe Bay disaster that is! Strange that the Deepwater Horizon disaster was used as a whip against the Brits, and not the U.S. Exon).

There has always been some degree of resistance to wind turbines, or ‘wind farms’ to use the collective noun, even in Britain, once oil rich, then Natural Gas rich, now very impoverished and desperate to find ways out of the fuel poverty the country finds itself in. There is even the debate about the realistic costs of an individual wind turbine for the U.K. in that they are generally constructed in Germany or Denmark, then shipped to Britain, installed either on land or at sea, with all the necessary planning enquiries and permissions that requires, with a ‘useful’ life of, some say, thirty-five years. Apparently, if you add-up all the costs involved and compare them to the value of the energy provided during those thirty-five years, there is a net financial LOSS! But at least the British government (not currently worthy of a capital ‘G’) are ‘doing their bit’ and will hopefully be producing sufficient ‘green’ energy by the appropriate year, agreed at a very costly international conference in some far-flung corner of the World.

A Twist in the Tale

Cardboard tubes, and the core-board they are made from, have as their biggest customer segment, wait for it, paper mills! With machines churning-out thousands of tonnes of paper per year, it all gets wrapped around cardboard cores, then re-wound and slit onto other cardboard cores, and some even converted to ‘consumer reels’ on even more cardboard cores. Possibly the only other tubes you would encounter everyday are inside toilet rolls or outside Smarties!

With the decline in the global paper industry, Stora-Enso, one of, if not the  largest manufacturers of cores and the board/paper they are made from, are feeling the pinch, and are having to make lay-offs in their core-board division.

The press release reads “…The planned restructuring measures would reduce … approximately 70 employees in core and coreboard operations mainly in Germany, Finland, the United Kingdom and the USA.”

There is further worrying news in that same press release for Stora’s packaging grades mills in Finland that produce what’s called ‘liner’ board for corrugated packaging. ” … Corrugated packaging markets are very local and closely related to national economies. In Finland demand is still clearly below pre-crisis levels, and there are no signs of sustained recovery….In addition, the plans include possible temporary lay-offs  [of] approximately 80 employees in corrugated packaging operations in Finland.”

The light at the end of the tunnel is Stora’s inclusion in that last statement of the word ‘temporary’, though with a fear that the light at the end of that same tunnel might be an express train hammering down to crush you, is this a sign of things to come in the linerboard sector?

StoraEnso is an extremely ‘switched-on’ corporation, and very awake to what’s going on in the World, and will act almost ruthlessly, though with all due care and attention, if they foresee trouble ahead. It may be a growing trend to blame the decline in magazine and book sales (and consequently the paper they are printed on) on Kindle and other electronic media – a theory that this author refuses to accept! – but with more and more electronic devises of all types appearing on the market with each new day, they have to be boxed in something, so that’s not a valid argument with regard to packaging.

Let’s look instead at the growing number of mills in India and China that European companies are investing in, either as joint ventures or total ownership, that produce a) printing papers, and b) linerboard. It brings a time-honoured expression to mind about cutting off one’s nose to spite your face!

Even the Sainted UPM are in on the act!

A press release from Helsinki Headquarters of UPM today reads:

UPM will permanently cease production at the Myllykoski paper mill by the end of this year. UPM and its employees were unable to establish a way to meet the commercial requirements for continuation of operations at the Myllykoski mill during employee negotiations. In addition, the company is cutting down its overlapping operations in paper sales, the supply chain and its functions in Finland.

 

I guess it had to happen after UPM took-over the Myllykoski mini-empire a short while back, and with a diminishing market in SC, LWC & MWC magazine papers, one can understand it, but try telling that to the folks that work there. The mill was established in 1892 and produces 600,000 (look at all those lovely zero’s mummy) metric tonnes of magazine grade papers. That’s a huge chunk to crop from the market, but just the way things are at the moment. Oh bugger!

And so it goes on….

This just in, as our Colonial Cousins might say:

Norske Skog has reached a stage in negotiations with a potential buyer of the Norske Skog Parenco mill and the recovered paper business of Reparco Group in the Netherlands; whereby, Norske Skog has filed a request with Parenco’s and Reparco’s work councils for their advice on a proposed sales transaction.

If an agreement with the potential buyer is reached, the mill will be converted out of publication paper after 2012.  Norske Skog will provide more information when a transaction is presented to and approved by all the relevant governing bodies of the two parties.

Norske Skog Parenco has a total publication paper capacity of 265 000 tonnes.

So who are the lucky prospective buyers? Are they taking both the Parenco mill AND the paper recycling/collection business in The Netherlands?

The clue might be in the mention in the press release that the mill will be converted from publishing papers. To produce what? There is over-supply in coated graphical grades, and M-real have said they want to centre their activities on board manufacture, and they do not have a particularly broad range of waste-based boards to market at present.

Let’s wait and see, especially as these things can go sour, for instance it was not long ago that Zanders were going to be taken-over by Papierfabrik Lenk, then that all fell flat.

M-real at it again in the big shake-up!

Culled from a recent (November 2^nd. 2011) Press Release we learn that M-real is further scything through it’s traditional coated graphical printing papers business, by increasing production at Husum (hooray!!!) by 55,000 tonnes a year, but stopping coated paper production at Äänekoski (boo!!!), turning the sole machine there into a board producer. Reason? “…to achieve an approximately EUR 20 million improvement in annual operating result.”

The “Amount of personnel at the Äänekoski mills is expected to reduce by 180 at the maximum…the paper and board sheeting operations at the site are planned to be combined. This would increase the folding boxboard sheeting capacity and improve M-real’s profitability.”

Then comes the real surprise (really? It was a surprise?): “M-real’s coated papers will also in the future be sold by Sappi Fine Paper Europe.”  Next-up I guess, Husum will be sold to SAPPI (a much ‘safer’ pair of hands) and the activity started a couple of years ago whereby so much of the M-real coated papers business went to SAPPI, and has continued to do well as a result, will be complete.

I still fear where all this is going for the sake of Gohrsmühle and the fine-papers brands. In the past there have been announcements that they would be snapped-up by Lenk – which didn’t happen after all – and many other mills had shown an interest, but none of them viable. If the Italian economy was not in danger of ‘Going Greek’, I would hope that my old friends at Fedrigoni would have taken it on and turned it around, but I don’t see that happening in the current financial situation.

Every so-many years this kind of thing goes on, possibly at twenty year intervals, though that’s just a guess, but each time the results are a diminished production base, in the hands of fewer and fewer companies, and many of the brands that we have come to grow and love disappear, and the merchants and publishers have to look to the Far East for replacements, where the environmental criteria are less of an issue. One wonders of the long-term feasibility a) of these alternative suppliers, b) that Europe will have lost it’s manufacturing base.

Why can’t it all be like UPM i.e. a great success?