Friday, June 21, 2013
North American Paper Shipments Reported
The Pulp and Products Council has reported North American coated mechanical paper shipments fell -11.2% in May, as compared to the same month last year. Demand declined -5.8% for the month. Imports rose +19.4% and the operating rate was 84%. Coated woodfree shipments were down -1.8% in May, demand grew +1% and imports rose 8.2%. The operating rate was 83%. SC-A/SC-A+ paper shipments were up +32.5% and demand increased +15.7%. Imports fell -22.8%. SC-B/SNC+ paper shipments rose +8.8% and demand was up +13.9%. The operating rate for Supercalendered paper was 90%. Uncoated woodfree paper shipments declined -5.1% and demand was down -5.2%. Imports rose +7.6%. The operating rate was 89%.
Lecta Installs PM, Closes Mill
http://www.lecta.com/home.htm#
Lecta has decided to install a new second-hand machine for production of base paper for specialty paper grades at its Zaragoza mill in northeastern Spain in a Euro 30 million ($39 million) investment.
The
company made the decision at the end of last year and started the preliminary
installation stages in the first quarter this year. The machine, which will be
named PM 7, is supposed to come online in summer next year, a company
spokesperson said. It will have a capacity of around 80,000 tonnes/yr,
depending on product mix.Lecta has decided to install a new second-hand machine for production of base paper for specialty paper grades at its Zaragoza mill in northeastern Spain in a Euro 30 million ($39 million) investment.
The new PM will help Lecta improve the integration at the Zaragoza mill, which already houses the firm's only pulp mill as well as two paper machines. PM 4 has a capacity of 160,000 tonnes/yr of coated woodfree paper and PM 6 can make some 30,000 tonnes/yr of base paper for specialty grades.
Uranga mill to be closed: As part of this project, Lecta has decided to shut down its Uranga mill outside of Tolosa in northern Spain and concentrate production at the Zaragoza mill.
NYT Introduces Meter for Mobile Apps
The New York Times (NYTimes.com)
today announced plans to meter its mobile applications, granting mobile app
users access to up to three articles a day across any section in the apps.
With this change, planned for June 27, non-subscribers will have access to
three stories per day from across all 25+ sections, blogs and slideshows.
Non-subscribers may also browse section fronts and article summaries. Video
remains free in the apps. Content beyond three articles per day will be
available only to subscribers. This is a departure from The Times's current
model, in which non-subscribers may only access the Top News section on mobile
news apps.
The Economist Names CEO
The Economist Group has named Chris Stibbs CEO effective July 18, when
Andrew Rashbass, the current chief executive, steps down.
Last month, Rashbass was named to the newly created position of chief
executive of the Reuters news and media business at Thomson Reuters. Stibbs is currently the Economist Group's finance director and the managing director of the Economist Intelligence Unit.
Time's Cooking Light Rolls Out Food Line
Time
Inc.'s Cooking Light, which has long shown readers how to make nutritious
meals, is now providing the dinners themselves. This month, Cooking Light is
rolling out a new line of prepared foods at BJ's Wholesale Clubs.
Mowbray
said the magazine was partly inspired to develop the products after seeing the
success that sister Time Inc. title Real Simple has had with its own brand extensions.
The growing interest in healthy living also opened up opportunities for the
Cooking Light brand: "Health is no longer niche; it's become
mainstream," said group publisher Diane Oshin.
Southern Living Launches Hotel Collection
Southern
Living, already a behemoth in the brand extension
department (you can buy Southern Living furniture, bedroom linens, tableware,
and even house plans), is giving "living" the brand experience a
whole new meaning with a Southern Living Hotel Collection.
"We'd
really been looking at brand extensions that allow for deeper immersion into
the lifestyle," said publisher Greg Schumann. "We always say that our
reader doesn’t just read Southern Living—she lives it. As we began to focus on
the travel facet of the brand, we realized that our readers are always looking
for Southern Living vetted and endorsed experiences."
It's Hard Out There for a Publisher
Conventional
wisdom says that entrepreneurs who start a Web-based business will do so with
VC money. Read enough stories of Internet ventures that enjoy lucrative exits
in the millions (in some cases billions) of dollars, and it's easy to assume
that the only path to success is to begin by securing deals with investors who
are far less interested in helping a startup build a substantial brand as they
are in realizing a return as quickly as possible.
Bootstrapping
simply isn't sexy anymore.But for many startup publishers, bootstrapping is a way of life, and VC money isn't an option. According to angel investor David S. Rose, the success rate of entrepreneurs who chase down VC or angel funding is about 1 in 500. Of the rest, some will give up, leaving a persistent majority to build their businesses from behind the financial eight ball.
Commercial Print Ships Reported
US commercial printing profits rebounded from their tough fourth quarter of
2012, where the industry showed a loss of -$400 million. Profits for the
first quarter of 2013 were +$850 million. Excluding the losses in Q4-2011 and
Q4-2012, Q1 profits were the lowest positive quarter since Q1-2010. These data
have been inflation-adjusted.
We prefer to look at inflation-adjusted shipments as a 4-quarter moving
total since profits can fluctuate significantly. The chart below shows that
profits have had trouble getting above the lows of 2005. The black line indicates the lows of 2005.
Economist Warns Printers of Complacency
Economist Warns Printers of Complacency: Wisconsin's stable of printing press operators, collectively the fifth-largest industry in the state, has been blindsided by the Internet, e-books and a wicked recession.
Yet the biggest challenge is not technology, but complacency, according to the chief economist for the National Association for Printing Leadership, a trade group.
"Our biggest threat is complacency, the status quo, and assuming that what worked yesterday will work tomorrow," Andrew Paparozzi told a gathering of commercial printers from Wisconsin, Illinois and Indiana on Thursday.
The industry that prints the nation's books, magazines and catalogs has shrunk, to be sure, Paparozzi said. Despite all the technological change, which diminishes demand for bound-paper publishing, Paparozzi said he continues to tour the nation's printers only to find that most are stuck in a mind-set of the last century — the belief that if a commercial printer hangs on long enough, other printers give up and open up opportunities and eventually things might return to what they were once like in the predigital age.
Yet the biggest challenge is not technology, but complacency, according to the chief economist for the National Association for Printing Leadership, a trade group.
"Our biggest threat is complacency, the status quo, and assuming that what worked yesterday will work tomorrow," Andrew Paparozzi told a gathering of commercial printers from Wisconsin, Illinois and Indiana on Thursday.
The industry that prints the nation's books, magazines and catalogs has shrunk, to be sure, Paparozzi said. Despite all the technological change, which diminishes demand for bound-paper publishing, Paparozzi said he continues to tour the nation's printers only to find that most are stuck in a mind-set of the last century — the belief that if a commercial printer hangs on long enough, other printers give up and open up opportunities and eventually things might return to what they were once like in the predigital age.
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