Three More Mills Announce Coated Mechanical Price Increases

Resolute Forest Products has announced a price increase on coated mechanical paper, effective with shipments on or after October 1, 2012. The price for Resolute Gloss will be raised $3.00 cwt. The price for the following papers will go up $2.00 cwt: ResoluteBriite 76, ResoluteBrite 80 and ResoluteMax 84.
The increases will be applicable to all basis weights and finishes, and all up charges apply.

Kruger Inc. announced a $3.00 cwt price increase on all of its coated mechanical paper, effective with shipments on or after Oct. 1.
The increase will apply to all weights and brightness levels. 

Sappi Fine Paper North America announced a price increase for coated mechanical paper grades of $3.00 cwt. The change affects Galerie Lite and Galerie Bright of all basis weights.

The increase is for new and unconfirmed orders with confirmed delivery dates on or after Oct. 1.

Canfor Second Firm to Lower Sept. Pulp Price

Canfor Pulp informed customers its northern bleached softwood kraft (NBSK) market pulp price would decline $20/tonne in the USA, effective September 1 until further notice.

Stora Enso Buys UPM's 50% of RETS Timber, Now Sole Owner

http://www.upm.com/EN/MEDIA/All-news/Pages/UPM-Timber-sold-its-share-in-RETS-Timber-to-Stora-Enso-001-Fri-31-Aug-2012-09-05.aspx

Stora Enso Building and Living has today acquired UPM Kymmene's 50% shareholding in the sawn timber trading company RETS Timber Oy Ltd. The acquisition makes Stora Enso Building and Living the sole owner of RETS Timber. The transaction is effective immediately.

Louisiana Sportsman's Unique Campaign

http://www.foliomag.com/2012/louisiana-sportsman-magazine-strikes-brand-partnership-state-lottery

Regional hunting and fishing title Louisiana Sportsman is having some luck with a new campaign developed in partnership with the Louisiana Lottery—more than 1.2 million scratch off tickets with the magazine’s logo and imagery are being sold in 1,900 retail outlets around Louisiana from August through November.

According to Tony Taylor, the publisher of the monthly magazine, which normally produces 280 pages and has a circulation of 34,000, the title has already been “reaping some incredible rewards.” The partnership with the state’s lottery, says Taylor, is an extension of the logo and branding offerings the publisher already has—the publication has sold over 50,000 decals, adding up to about $500,000 a year in logoed apparel sales that promotes the magazine.

VP, Publishing Director Leaves "ESPN The Magazine"

http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/shakeup-espn-mag-143251

There’s been another big shakeup at ESPN: vp, publishing director Steven Binder has mysteriously left after six years in the position.

ESPN confirmed Binder's exit but declined to comment on the reason for his departure or say if he's been replaced. The change at the top comes as the magazine is trying to figure out its future in a 24-hour news cycle, however. ESPN The Magazine’s ad pages declined 11 percent to 520 in the first half of the year versus the year-ago period, per Publishers Information Bureau. Bigger rival Sports Illustrated also declined, by 6 percent to 689 ad pages in the same period.

Time's "Southern Living" Using Digital Watermarks

http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/181714/mag-bag-southern-living-adds-digital-watermarks.html?print

More Time Inc. titles are turning to Digimarc for digital watermarks in editorial content. Southern Living is incorporating Digimarc’s "Discover" platform for digital watermarking into editorial content in its September issue, which hit newsstands last week.
The issue highlights several of Digimarc’s special capabilities, according to the company, including integrating multiple watermarks into a single page, watermarking text, popu-labels and a "Print-to-Pin" feature, which allows readers to pin printed, high-resolution images from the magazine to their Pinterest boards.

Publishers Settle eBooks Suit

http://www.oag.state.md.us/Press/2012/082912a.html

Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler, joined by 54 attorneys general from other states, U.S. territories and the District of Columbia, announced today that an antitrust settlement has been secured with three of the nation's largest book publishers. Under the settlement, Hachette Book Group, Inc, HarperCollins Publishers L.L.C. and Simon & Schuster Inc. have agreed to pay more than $69 million to consumers, resolving antitrust claims of an alleged unlawful conspiracy to fix the prices of electronic books, also known as e-books. Maryland consumers will receive up to $1.64 million from the settlement.

Kindle Best Selling Product on Amazon

http://pymnts.com/news/businesswire-feed/2012/august/30/kindle-firethe-1-best-selling-product-on-amazon-since-launchnow-sold-out-20120830005301/

Less than one year ago, Amazon introduced Kindle Fire. Kindle Fire quickly became the most successful product launch in the history of Amazon.com, earning over 10,000 5-star customer reviews, and is the #1 best-selling product across the millions of items available on Amazon since its introduction 48 weeks ago.

FutureMark Announces Price Increase

FutureMark Paper has announced a $3.00 cwt price increase for coated mechanical paper, effective with orders shipping on or after October 1, 2012. The following papers are included: Connection (76 Bright), Connection (80 Bright), Choice and Choice/Book Matte. The change applies to all grades, basis weights and finishes.
This marks at least the third mill that has announced a price change for coated mechanical and Supercalendered papers.

Port Hawkesbury: Court Approves $2 Million for Restart

Court approves spending $2 million to quickly restart Port Hawkesbury Paper mill:
The Nova Scotia Supreme Court has approved Pacific West Commercial Corp.‘s request to spend $2 million to quickly restart the hot idled mill in Port Hawkesbury.
$500,000 will come from Pacific West Commercial Corp. and $1.5 million will be taken from the $15.8 million provincial fund that kept the mill in a hot idle state during restructuring.
The money will be used to ready the mill for a quick restart by bringing back workers, repairing equipment, and buying supplies.

International Paper Suing Smart Papers

International Paper suing Smart Papers over $3M tab from Hamilton:
International Paper Co. is suing Smart Papers Holdings LLC over a $3 million tab from the city of Hamilton, Ohio, related to a 15-year-old wastewater treatment agreement.

Recovered Nippon Ishomaki Mill Running

Nippon Paper resumes operation of PM2 and coating machine 2 at Ishinomaki mill in Japan; production capability reaches 850,000 tonnes/yr: After being affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake, Nippon Paper Industries Co., Ltd. resumed operation of Paper Machine N2 and Coating Machine 2 at the Ishinomaki Mill (Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture) today. As a result, the production capability at Ishinomaki Mill has recovered to around 850,000 tons/year, with all six paper machines and two coating machines at the mill having resumed operations based on the Plan for Paper Business Revitalization released in August 2011.

Finnish Forestry: Difficult Market Conditions

Difficult market conditions led to weaker forest industry production in Finland
Forest industry production volumes decreased or remained unchanged in a challenging operating environment during the first half of 2012. The industry's cost-competitiveness must be safeguarded in difficult economic times.
Finland produced 5.2 million tonnes of paper and paperboard in January-June 2012. Production volumes were down 10% from the previous year. Paper export volumes decreased 12% in January-May, while paperboard exports were down 8.5%. Paper and paperboard prices remained stable in comparison to the corresponding period of 2011.

UPI Launches SSN Gulf

http://www.abmassociation.com/News/2861/United-Publications-to-launch-business-media-where-there-isnt-any

A few months ago, United Publications Inc (UPI) saw an opening in b-to-b media and grabbed it. In July, UPI, publisher of home medical equipment and security trade newspapers, launched SSN Gulf, a monthly newsmagazine and the Gulf edition of one of its key brands, Security Systems News.

Bid to Overturn USPS Contract ‘Likely to Succeed’

Bid to Overturn $107-Million USPS Mail Contract Approval ‘Likely to Succeed’: Malin Moench, the Public Representative appointed by the Postal Regulatory Commission to represent the views of the general public in the review of the proposed contract between USPS and direct mail giant Valassis, said the Commission misapplied antitrust principles in approving the $107-million deal.

USPS Productivity Down: Less Mail, More Addresses

USPS Productivity has Declined this Year: USPS delivered fewer than 139 mail pieces per work hour in July, a 3.7 percent decrease from the July 2011 level of 144 pieces, according to preliminary numbers the service released Tuesday. The agency’s net loss for the month was $1.327 billion, nearly $300 million more than planned and more than $500 million worse than last year.

Record Number of ‘Action Codes’ in Top 100 Magazines

Study Finds Record Number of ‘Action Codes’ Printed in the Top 100 U.S. Magazines: QR codes, digital watermarks, image recognition and other types of mobile action codes printed in the top 100 U.S. magazines reached a record number in second quarter, according to a new study by mobile marketing and technology services company, Nellymoser Inc. A total of 2,200 codes were printed during the quarter, up from 1,365 in the previous quarter (61 percent growth). More than 10 percent of advertisements contained a code, which was double the 5 percent rate from just one year ago.

Kodak: Focus on Digital Print for Packaging

Kodak, Re-Focused for 2013: Well Positioned to Advance in Digital Print for Packaging: This week Kodak made news with the announcement by CEO Antonio Perez that his company will focus on commercial, packaging, and functional printing. The choices are not surprising, given prospects now for conventional document printing (down) and for “unconventional” printing such as packaging and labels (up).

Verso Announces Price Increase

Verso Paper announced a $3.00 cwt coated mechanical price increase effective with all orders entered immediately and all orders shipping on or after October 1, 2012. The change applied to all basis weights, bulks and finishes.
NewPage announced coated mechanical and Supercalendered paper price increases earlier this week.

EURO-GRAPH Reports July Coated, SC Ships

EURO-GRAPH reported that July European shipments of coated mechanical paper grew +0.2% as compared to the same month last year. Demand increased by +2.2%, but exports fell -5.1%. Coated woodfree shipments were up +4.3% and demand rose +1.7%. Exports jumped +10.6%. Supercalendered paper shipments decreased -8.5% and demand declined -13.3%. Exports increased +13.4%.

Judge Rules on Port Hawkesbury Tax Deal

Mill tax deal can be cancelled: judge:
Richmond County has lost Round 1, but could still win the fight if it delivers a knock-out punch in Round 2. Supreme Court of Nova Scotia Justice John D. Murphy ruled Tuesday that the taxation deal between Richmond County and the Stora Enso mill - which was enshrined in provincial legislation in 2006 - is a deal that can be cancelled by the mill's cancelled by the mill’s new owner, Pacific West Commercial Corp., and its parent company, Stern Partners Inc.

New Owner Brokaw Mill: Will Not Make Paper

Brokaw Development LLC announced today that it has acquired the property and assets of the former Wausau Paper manufacturing site in Brokaw, Wisconsin. Eric J. Spirtas, principle of newly founded Brokaw Development LLC, and president of Niagara Worldwide LLC, based in Niagara, Wisconsin, commented, "We see this investment as a great opportunity for the town of Brokaw, the neighboring villages and cities, as well as Brokaw Development and Niagara. We've established Brokaw Development as the entity that will manage site redevelopment. Although the mill will not be restarted to make paper.

ABC: Top 25 Business Publications

http://www.btobonline.com/article/20120829/MEDIABUSINESS10/308299995/abc-releases-list-of-top-25-business-publications

The Audit Bureau of Circulations has released a list of the top 25 U.S. business publications for the first half of the year. The list is based on total average paid circulation and qualified nonpaid print circulation.

Topping the list are: International Fire Fighter (285,308 circ.), published by the International Association of Fire Fighters; followed by Nursing 2012 (191,937 circ.), published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins; and Motor Age (120,332), published by Advanstar Communications.

More Newspapers Reducing Schedules, Size

http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/181756/advance-cuts-more-newspaper-schedules.html?print

The controversial changes at the New Orleans Times-Picayune, where the publishing schedule was cut to three days a week, may prove to be a harbinger of similar reductions at other newspapers across the country. This week, Advance Publications announced that it is also slashing the frequency at newspapers in New York State and Pennsylvania.
http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2012/08/23/philadelphia-daily-newspapers-switching-to-smaller-newsprint-size/  

Just four months after the Philadelphia Inquirer, Daily News, and Philly.com were sold for $55 million (see related story) — a fraction of their $515-million purchase price just six years ago — the papers have announced that they will get a little slimmer this fall.

Big Changes for "Advertising Age"

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/27/business/media/aiming-for-digital-focus-ad-age-redesigns-print-publication.html?pagewanted=print

A WEEKLY trade publication covering Madison Avenue since the Hoover administration will soon introduce its most significant redesign in years, as part of efforts to further redirect its editorial focus in a digital world toward analysis from breaking news.

The publication, Advertising Age, owned by Crain Communications, made its debut in 1930 and grew to become the largest in its field. The redesign, scheduled for the Sept. 10 issue, will be comprehensive, affecting even the familiar oversize Ad Age format.

"Backstage" Redesigned

http://www.foliomag.com/2012/back-stage-ties-print-and-digital-together-redesign

The niche magazine for the performing arts community, Backstage, has redesigned its print publication and website in an effort to stay ahead of its competition and a bit ahead of the curve—a move that seems to be working, so far..

The print publication will go from a tabloid size of 11.5 inches by 15 inches, to a 9 inch by 10.875-inch book. The magazine will have an increased paper quality with a glossy interior and cover stock. According to Amato, readers were asking for a smaller product so it could be easily transported to casting calls and auditions.

Paperless Future for Banks?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/29/check-cashiers-paperless-future_n_1833892.html?ncid=edlinkusaolp00000003

Starting in March 2013, the government will stop issuing paper checks, including ones for Social Security, disability or other benefits. Recipients will receive payments through direct deposit into a bank account or a prepaid card, including the government's own GoDirect card, issued by Comerica Bank. By 2033, the paper check may be extinct altogether, according to a paper published by the Federal Reserve of Philadelphia.

NS Subsidies Worry Maine Paper Industry

http://www.kjonline.com/news/possible-subsidized-canadian-paper-mill-worries-maine_2012-08-26.html

Plans by the government of Nova Scotia to spend $125 million to help reopen a failed paper mill in Cape Breton could threaten production and jobs in Maine's struggling paper industry, officials say.

The Canadian mill is a former NewPage Corp. facility in Port Hawkesbury. It makes grades of magazine and catalog paper similar to those of some of Maine's largest paper makers, including the Verso Paper Corp. facilities in Bucksport and Jay, the Sappi Fine Paper mill in Skowhegan, the UPM-Biofore Company mill in Madison and the NewPage mill in Rumford, which currently is operating under bankruptcy reorganization.

Maine's industry worries that provincial subsidies that include loans and discount electric rates would let the Canadian mill sell its products at lower prices, at a time when demand for magazine and catalog paper in North America is already down.

Pacific West's Port Hawkesbury Story Continues

Tax bill for idled N.S. paper mill can't be changed in court: lawyer:

A lawyer for Nova Scotia's Richmond County argues the prospective buyer of the idle NewPage paper mill can't change a tax agreement through court action. Bruce Clarke said in Nova Scotia Supreme Court today that only the provincial legislature has the right to amend a tax agreement set out in legislation.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/story/2012/08/27/ns-newpage-court.html  

The prospective owners of the idle Port Hawkesbury paper mill say they have made three offers for a new tax deal with Richmond County and none have been accepted.

The impasse has reached the courts.

On Tuesday, a Nova Scotia Supreme Court judge will rule on whether the company has the right to break the existing tax agreement reached in 2006. 

http://foresttalk.com/index.php/2012/08/28/port-hawkesbury-paper-court-decisions-today/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+foresttalk%2FZdAe+%28ForestTalk%29&utm_content=Google+Reader

Creditor protection period has been extended for another month – until September 28, 2012.

Nova Scotia Supreme Court justice John Murphy refused to approve $2 million in spending requested to restart the idle mill.  The request was filed yesterday after business hours, which did not give time for other stakeholders to respond.  Pacific West Commerical Corp. was willing to put up $500,000 and was requesting $1.5 million from the provincial funds used to keep the mill operating.  Justice Murphy said, ”I’m not satisfied the circumstances justify the extent of the exemption (of required notice).”