Two Additional Mills Announce Pulp Increases

https://www.versopaper.com/Default.aspx

Verso announced to customers this week that it will increase maple northern bleached hardwood kraft (NBHK) pulp prices by $20/tonne, effective June 1 until further notice, industry contacts said.

Verso slated its June 1 maple NBHK price at $870/tonne with the $20/tonne hike.
The only previous June 1 price increase in North American hardwood markets came from NewPage, which weeks ago told domestic customers its NBHK and southern bleached hardwood kraft (SBHK) pulp prices would increase $20/tonne with all orders June 3 and after.

http://www.canfor.com/ 
Canfor Pulp has informed customers in the USA that it will increase northern bleached softwood kraft (NBSK) pulp prices $20/tonne, effective June 1, industry contacts told RISI.

Canfor Pulp's $20/tonne increase on premium reinforcement NBSK, announced to customers this morning, comes after it last raised US prices in April to $930/tonne. The firm's latest increase would bring its US NBSK list price to $950/tonne.
Two major producers of NBSK previously announced $20/tonne, June 1 increases in North America.
West Fraser made the first move on May 24 with a $20/tonne increase worldwide that includes North America, Asia, and Europe.
Domtar began informing domestic customers that it would increase prices on NBSK as well as southern bleached softwood kraft (SBSK) on Tuesday, contacts said. Domtar set NBSK at $950/tonne and SBSK at $910/tonne.

CEP and CAW Form New Union: Unifor

http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2013/05/30/unifor_will_be_name_of_new_super_union_that_combines_caw_and_cep.html

The new Canadian union being formed by the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union (CEP) and the Canadian Auto Workers union (CAW) will be named Unifor. The name and logo were unveiled today during a packed press conference of 200 local leaders, members, community supporters and allies.

"Today, we are proud to introduce our new union as Unifor, a union that will fight for working people in every sector of the economy and in every community in Canada," said CEP National President Dave Coles. "Unifor will be a union for young workers, those struggling to piece together part-time work and contract jobs, and other precarious working conditions. It will be a union for everyone."

Daishowa-Marubeni Wins Tax Case in Canada

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/the-canadian-press/130523/cant-tax-reforestation-top-court-rules-case-could-affect-oil

A Japanese-based forestry company has won a long-running tax battle with Ottawa over how reforestation obligations should be handled when harvest rights are sold.
The Supreme Court of Canada ruled 9-0 on Thursday that passing on future liabilities for land reclamation cannot be considered taxable at the time of the sale.
Revenue Canada had argued the cost of such liabilities should be treated like a mortgage and thus the value should be added to the sale price for tax purposes. 
But Daishowa-Marubeni International Ltd., or DMI — with the backing of the Alberta government — argued that the obligation to reforest was embedded in the timber rights granted by the province.
The top court agreed that since Alberta wouldn't allow any transfer of those timber rights unless the buyer assumed the reforestation demands, that cost actually depressed the sale price.

Italy: Producers Seeking Price Increases

http://www.euwid-paper.com/news/singlenews/Artikel/italy-producers-seeking-higher-prices-for-publication-papers.html

July. Buyers understand future market conditions to remain in their favour despite capacity curbs and closures at UPM, Holmen, Stora Enso and Norske Skog.

Some movement returned to the newsprint market in Italy in late May.
Prices for magazine paper should also soon be heading upwards, if suppliers get their way. A first move in this regard was made by some of the leading European manufacturers at the end of May. The mark-ups demanded by producers were usually €25-40/t or 5-7% and would apply to all shipments from 1 July. Some other suppliers told EUWID they were planning to follow suit soon, but were still considering how high their price increase would be.

Stora Enso Names Acting CFO

Stora Enso OYJa : Jyrki Tammivuori appointed as acting Cfo of Stora Enso:

Stora Enso Group Treasurer, Jyrki Tammivuori, has been appointed as acting Chief Financial Officer as of 1 July 2013. As announced in April, the current CFO, Karl-Henrik Sundström, will head the new Printing and Living Division combining the current Printing and Reading Business Area and Building and Living Business Area from the beginning of July. The process of recruiting a new CFO is advancing.

Lecta Increases Coated Prices

http://www.lecta.com/home.htm

Lecta, the second largest European coated woodfree paper-manufacturing group, made up of Condat, Cartiere del Garda and Torraspapel, announces a price increase in its 1 and 2 side CWF papers.

Taking in consideration the manufacturing cost levels and the rising input costs the price increase is inevitable. It will be implemented in the paper deliveries from early July.

Catalyst Paper Worried About Labor Shortage

Catalyst Paper worried about labour shortage at its Port Alberni mill:
Catalyst Paper said the biggest challenge its Port Alberni mill faces in the future is a looming labour shortage.
The general manager of the Port Alberni mill, Fred Chinn, said skilled employees are retiring regularly from the operation and they need to figure out how to replace them.  Back in the 1990′s, many young workers were let go because they had the least senority.  This has left an age gap in the employment profile.

Jonas Bonnier to Step Down as CEO of Bonnier AB

Jonas Bonnier to Step Down as CEO of Bonnier AB:  Jonas Bonnier is stepping down as CEO of  Stockholm-based Bonnier AB, parent to the U.S.-based Bonnier Corporation and divisions in 17 other countries. Bonnier, who became CEO in 2008, will officially transition out at the end of 2013, at which point he'll head to the U.S. to continue overseeing Bonnier Corp. as chairman of the board, a role he's had since 2007.

MediaPost Mag Bag

http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/201435/mag-bag-25-of-tablet-owners-prefer-digital-mags.html#axzz2UtPKQ5PL

Digital magazines are increasingly popular with tablet owners. Overall, 26% of tablet owners said they prefer the tablet versions of magazines over print versions.

According to a new survey of 1,293 tablet owners by the Mequoda Group, a digital publishing consultancy,  that proportion will increase to 65% by 2020. That said, the engagement numbers are currently still rather modest..

Andrew Rashbass is stepping down as CEO of the Economist Group in order to take the new role of CEO at Reuters... 
Brandon Huff has been appointed executive vice president of digital for Dwell Media, where he will be responsible for initiatives such as the company's new e-commerce unit, which is set to launch in 2014... 
Tom Kirwan is joining Time Inc. Branded Solutions, Time Inc.’s corporate ad sales division, as vice president for digital sales...
And more...

Warren Buffett Buys Another Newspaper

http://www.tricities.com/news/local/article_22a5dc02-c938-11e2-a421-0019bb30f31a.html

The Roanoke Times will become part of Warren Buffett's newspaper group.

BH Media Group, an Omaha-based division of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., said Thursday that it would purchase The Times from Landmark Media Enterprises of Norfolk, for an undisclosed price. Earlier, BH Media purchased a daily newspaper in Greensboro, N.C., from Landmark.

NYT Launches Full Mobile Site Redesign

http://www.adweek.com/news/press/new-york-times-launches-first-full-mobile-site-redesign-2006-149892

Until recently, the New York Times mobile site was exactly the same as it was when it launched in 2006, back when touch-screens were a rarity, the Motorola Razr was a high-tech device, and the iPhone had yet to enter our common consciousness. But today, that finally changed when the Times debuted its first full redesign of m.nytimes.com.

A few initial changes were made to the site in late April: the design was cleaned up, load times improved, and some touch-screen optimizations introduced. Today's big revamp also includes layout updates and features like article-to-article and section-to-section swiping, commenting capability, prompts for iPhone users to view Times content on its mobile site, and the ability to save articles across platforms. The site’s advertising components will now include full-screen interstitial units.

Voluntary Carbon Offsetting Tops 100 Million Tonnes

http://www.fortmilltimes.com/2013/05/30/2723673/voluntary-carbon-offsetting-tops.html

Voluntary demand for carbon offsetting grew 4% in 2012, when buyers committed more than $523 million to offset 101 million metric tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions. Private sector buyers flocked to offsets earned by planting trees, saving tropical forests, or distributing clean cookstoves in the developing world, according to this year’s State of the Voluntary Carbon Markets report, released by Forest Trends’ Ecosystem Marketplace this week in Barcelona, Spain.

The European private sector, including regulated energy utilities, was the market’s biggest voluntary buyer – seeing demand grow 34% to 43.4 million tonnes of offsets even in the face of significant challenges to Europe’s mandatory carbon market. 
Across the pond, United States-based corporations, ranging from The Walt Disney Company to Chevrolet, offset more emissions than buyers in any other single country at 28.7 million tonnes. A little over a third of offsets purchased by US buyers (9.7 million tonnes) were obtained for future use in California’s emerging cap-and-trade program.

Sappi May Close More Mills

http://www.iol.co.za/business/companies/sappi-may-close-more-mills-1.1523327#.UaeHHeuYyKw

Johannesburg - South African-listed paper maker Sappi is considering closing more mills in Europe as falling demand and rising costs for inputs such as pulp put pressure on margins, its chief executive said on Tuesday.
Sappi, the world's largest maker of fine paper used in glossy magazines, has been cutting capacity in all its operations as the paper industry struggles to recover from a slump caused by sluggish demand and over capacity.
But recovery has been slow for Sappi with weak consumer demand in Europe and an acceleration to digital devices from traditional print.
Chief executive Ralph Boettger said the company was cutting costs in “every single area” of its European business, which is its biggest, to boost margins.
“We are going to have to also take out further capacity and that will most probably involve closure of either mills or machines or both,” Boettger told Reuters in an interview.

Port Hawkesbury Gets Chips from Quebec

Barge arrives at Port Hawkesbury Paper with chips from Quebec:
The new buzzing in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia today is about a barge loaded with wood chips from Quebec that arrived this week at Port Hawkesbury Paper.
There are 230 truckloads of wood chips on the barge.
Port Hawkesbury Paper said they ordered the chips when the truck drivers refused to deliver wood to the mill for a few days earlier this month, and they have no plans to continue to bring wood chips in from Quebec.
Russell Huntington, a representative from Eastern Nova Scotia Private Wood Producers is skeptical. He said many truckers, including himself, haven’t shipped wood to the mill in months.
“I haven’t shipped them a stick of wood since sometime in January, and it doesn’t seem to bother them,” he says. “There are contractors that never started back up – there’s quite a few contractors shipping all the wood up to Northern (Pulp), and their stud wood up to Scotsburn.”

Russia's Only LWC PM Starts

Russia's Kama mill located in the Perm region has restarted its 86,000 tonne/yr lightweight coated paper PM 7. In April, the mill produced some supercalendered (SC) paper on PM 7, while in May it started making LWC paper. Kama said that it is currently in the process of establishing its customer base in central and western Russia. 
The Kama mill, which recently changed hands, might soon see a new 330,000 tonne/yr LWC paper machine installed at its premises. The firm plans to complete a full feasibility study before the end of the year, after which it intends to start building a new machine. Kama said that it will be able to confirm more details on the investment once the feasibility study is completed.

Catalyst Raises Coated Prices

http://catalystpaper.com/

Catalyst set $30-40 price increases on coated paper products shipping on and after July 1.

Prices for the company's Pacificote grade will go up $30/ton and Electracote and Electracote Brite grades will increase by $40/ton. Pricing in Canada will rise by C$33/tonne and C$44/tonne respectively.

The increase applies to to all brightness, finishes, and basis weights, Catalyst said.

Temple Inland Fined for 2011 Spill

Temple Inland fined $3.3M for 2011 spill:
A federal judge has ordered Temple Inland, a subsidiary of International Paper, to pay $3.3 million and serve two years of probation for polluting the Pearl River in 2011 with illegal discharges from its paper mill in Bogalusa, killing thousands of fish.

Millstein Named Assistant to Hearst CEO

http://www.ctpost.com/local/article/Lincoln-Millstein-named-senior-Hearst-VP-4557111.php

Hearst Newspapers' Lincoln Millstein has been promoted to senior vice president and special assistant to the CEO of Hearst Corp., the company announced Wednesday.

Millstein, 63, will cede his current role as executive vice president and deputy group head of Hearst Newspapers on June 1 to take on the newly created position, joining a group of executives advising Steven Swartz on corporate strategy. In his previous position, Millstein, a Greenwich resident, was second in command operating 15 daily newspapers, managing aspects of digital, print, marketing and sales.

Hearst Joins Roku Investors

http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/201369/hearst-backs-roku-to-expand-tv-streaming.html#axzz2UiA5hSTP

Hearst has joined a $60 million venture-capital round backing Roku, the company that facilitates online streaming to TV screens. The media company with magazines and TV stations has an arm with investments in Brightcove and WideOrbit.
Hearst became a first-time Roku investor in the series F round, along with an unnamed institutional investor. Previous funders BSkyB and News Corp. also participated.

Magazine Readership Growing

http://www.adweek.com/news/press/magazine-readership-growing-survey-shows-149863

Some needed good news from the magazine publishing industry: As newsstand sales fell and circulation remained flat through the end of 2012, the latest data from GfK MRI's Survey of the American Consumer, which tracks print and digital magazine audiences, shows that overall readership among adults in the U.S. continued to grow between Spring 2012 and Spring 2013 while digital readership nearly doubled.
Over the past year, the U.S. magazine adult audience (for print and digital editions combined) increased nearly 3 percent to 1.2 billion.

Britain Plans to Privatize Postal Service

http://www.piworld.com/aggregatedcontent/britain-plans-to-privatize-postal-service

Britain is preparing to privatize its postal service. The government on Wednesday said it had appointed Goldman Sachs and UBS to manage an initial public offering for the Royal Mail later this year, The New York Times reports. 
The sale would be the biggest privatization in the country since the railroads in the 1990s, The New York Times reports. Michael Fallon, the minister for business, said the sale was a “practical, logical and commercial decision.” 

Magazines More Popular Among College Students

http://www.pubexec.com/article/magazines-more-popular-than-ever-among-college-students-says-shweiki-media-25061159/1

In a seemingly tech-oriented world, there's been constant speculation over the last few years that print is a dying medium—especially among the younger set, who had smartphones thrust into their hands years ago and haven't looked back since. Shweiki, in conjunction with Study Breaks College Media, wanted to test these suspicions, however, and see just how accurate the "print is dead" theory actually is. After surveying 387 college students, the answer is, it turns out, that it couldn't be further from the truth. Check out the awesome results.

97 percent have read a free magazine
90 percent have read a magazine in the last month
84 percent keep magazines for at least a month
70 percent share magazines with friends and/or borrow them from friends
85 percent get fashion ideas from magazines
89 percent visit Websites they see in magazines
84 percent purchase an item after seeing it in a magazine
63 percent use coupons from magazines to make purchases
84 percent redeem specials and promotions they see in magazines

Williams-Sonoma: What Customers Want Now

http://www.chiefmarketer.com/direct-marketing/williams-sonoma-and-nordstrom-share-what-customers-want-now-28052013

No matter what channel they’re interacting or shopping in, all customers today want one thing—a seamless experience. This means that service and relationship building is more important than ever.

“Consumers want us to know them, and as part of that service the customer wants a frictionless shopping experience,” said Pat Connolly, executive vice president and CMO of Williams-Sonoma.
Connolly and Jamie Nordstrom, president of Nordstrom Direct, shared what it means to be a customer-led company last week during a keynote discussion at Responsys Interact in San Francisco.

1 in 4 Kindle Users Still Buying at Bookstores

http://www.beaumontenterprise.com/business/press-releases/article/New-Simba-Report-1-in-4-Kindle-Users-Still-4557139.php

Media forecast and research firm Simba Information has released the 2013 edition of Trends in Digital and Trade Book Retailing. This new report, which compiles data from proprietary surveys and additional sources to study the print and digital book retailing business, uncovers some of the nuances and contradictions of the consumer book market which include the finding that one in four adults who have used a Kindle to read an e-book in the last three months have also bought at least one book at an independent, local or used bookstore, and more than one in five have used a chain bookstore.

Print Reading Audience Up

Magazine Audience Sizes Flat-to-Growing, Per GfK MRI Numbers: 
Print reading audiences are on the rise, according to spring 2013 data released this week by measurement firm GfK MRI. Of the 181 titles surveyed, about 42 percent or 76 titles saw print audience size increase by 5 percent or more from spring 2012 to spring 2013.
About 35 publications saw audiences grow from 5 to 10 percent, while 41 saw gains of 10 percent or more.

First Automated Magazine Kiosk

World’s first automated magazine kiosk
The world's first automated magazine kiosk – internet-connected Meganews Magazines – is about to be launched. Prior to its launch, the research institute Innventia analysed the new product’s impact on the environment. Innventia’s life cycle assessment shows that Meganews Magazines with print-on-demand technology is a sustainable complement to traditional magazine sales.

B-to-B’s Path to Mobile Optimization

B-to-B’s Path to Mobile Optimization:
Even though they see the rising tide of mobile users, b-to-b publishers aren’t sure how to proceed. The same AAM study reports that 60 percent are undecided about how exactly they’ll optimize for mobile. Meanwhile, close to two-thirds of consumer magazines already have a definitive approach.

RR Donnelley/Harlequin Agreement Reported

RR Donnelley to Provide eBook Services for Harlequin:
R. R. Donnelley & Sons Company (Nasdaq:RRD) announced today that it has been awarded an agreement to provide eBook services and digital content fulfillment to Harlequin. Under the terms of the agreement, which renews and expands the companies' relationship, RR Donnelley will provide eBook conversion services, asset management, delivery to Harlequin's business partners and retailers as well as digital content fulfillment. Services will be provided using RR Donnelley's LibreDigital platform.

FutureMark Raises Coated Mechanical Pricing

http://www.futuremarkpaper.com/

FutureMark has announced an increase in the price of coated mechanical papers, effective with all orders shipping on or after July 1.  The price of the following grades will change by $2.00/cwt:

Connection, 76 Bright, Connection, 80 Bright, Choice and Choice/Book Matte.

All basis weights and finishes are included.

Domtar Raises Pulp Prices

http://www.domtar.com/

Domtar informed North American customers that it will increase northern bleached softwood kraft (NBSK) and southern bleached softwood kraft (SBSK) market pulp prices by $20/tonne, industry contacts said today.

Domtar told domestic customers its NBSK list price would rise to $950/tonne with the $20/tonne increase. The firm's hike on SBSK would bring its list price to $910/tonne.

May Downtime at NBSK Mills Will Cut 47,000 mt

Four North American producers of market northern bleached softwood kraft (NBSK) pulp had regularly scheduled maintenance downtime at their pulp mills this month, which led to about 47,000 to 51,000 tonnes of market NBSK output getting trimmed.

Price Increase on NA Imports of Coated Freesheet

Hansol paper supplier Global Fibres has told North American customers it will increase prices by $20/ton on orders entered on or after June 1. The firm cited "substantial increases in raw material, energy and freight."

Global Fibres said in a May 23 letter to customers that the increase would apply to all basis weights and finishes of paper for sheets and rolls.

Resolute Forest Products Sues Greenpeace

Resolute Forest Products sues Greenpeace:
Resolute Forest Products has filed a lawsuit against Greenpeace Canada, and its campaigners, Richard Brooks and Shane Moffatt, for $5 million in damages, plus punitive damages of $2 million, plus costs.
The suit claims“damages for defamation, malicious falsehood and intentional interference with economic relations”.

RRD/Wiiliams-Sonoma Multi-Year Agreement

RR Donnelley Awarded Multi-Year Multi-Million Dollar Agreement by Williams-Sonoma, Inc.: Expands Relationship to Include Producing All Catalogs for Williams-Sonoma, Inc.
CHICAGO -- R. R. Donnelley & Sons Company today announced that it has been awarded a multi-year multi-million dollar agreement by Williams-Sonoma, Inc. that renews and significantly expands the companies' relationship. Under the terms of the agreement RR Donnelley will provide printing, sophisticated co-mailing and mailing logistics services for all of Williams-Sonoma, Inc.'s
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Two Sides: No Wonder You Love Paper

Good Stuff on Print & Paper Sustainabiltiy:
Need something to tweet, post on your business Facebook page, or add to your profile on LinkedIn? Two Sides has launched a new ad campaign, “No Wonder You Love Paper,” that contains details of the sustainability of paper-based products that your customers might want to know about.
For example, did you know that 65% of paper in the United States is recycled or there are now 49% more trees in the United States than 50 years ago? Most people don’t.
The No Wonder You Love Paper campaign is supported by a website that includes additional facts about the sustainability of print and paper, a short video on paper and forests, a quiz you can pass around to colleagues or customers, and the opportunity to win a prize for creating a short “fun with paper” video.

Global Printing Ink Industry Growth

Printing Ink Market Analysis Available for Global and China to 2015: Driven by the thriving printing industry, recent years have seen upward mobility in global printing ink industry. North America, Japan and Western Europe have kept the position as the world’s major printing ink producers and consumers, with the respective consumption in 2012 making up 23 percent, 19 percent and 18 percent. However, Europe and Americas’ growing saturated trend in the printing ink market means they are now losing out to Asian regions such as China and India. Presently, many transnational industrial magnates have accelerated their business sprawl in these emerging markets, including DIC, Flint, Toyo Ink, Sataka INX, Siegwerk, and Huber which had established branches in China as of late 2012. In 2012, both Sataka INX and DIC announced to build their own new printing ink factories in India.

Fashion Magazines Ad Pages Up in H1

http://www.wwd.com/media-news/fashion-memopad/numbers-game-6954352?module=hp-media
From January to March, magazines had a total of 31,137 pages, down 4.8 percent, according to the Association of Magazine Media. Media Industry Newsletter reported the declines to be smaller, 0.12 percent in the first quarter and 0.86 percent in the second quarter.
Let’s start with the magazines that maintained their momentum...This year, publisher Carol Smith pushed ad pages to a little more than 900, a 19 percent surge over the same period in 2012, according to MIN...
Thanks to former publisher Connie Anne Phillips, who resigned from Time Inc. in early May, InStyle, coming off a decent first half in 2012, is again off to a solid start in 2013...
The competition between the glossy supplements from The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal is still healthy, with both titles posting double-digit jumps — WSJ., run by publisher Anthony Cenname, posted 252 pages through its June 13 issue, or nearly 30 percent above the previous year, while T: The New York Times Style Magazine, under group vice president, advertising Todd Haskell, has 13 percent more pages, at 486. (Without the May design issue, which was discontinued, the magazine is up 26 percent in total ad pages)...

Allure, Marie Claire and W were way ahead of the pack through last June, each with percentage jumps in the double digits. Against those records, their 2013 first half can only pale in comparison...
Two categories in particular that were slightly weak through last summer are thriving so far: food and men’s. Bon Appétit and Food Network, from Condé Nast and Hearst Corp., respectively, posted double-digit jumps in advertising.

Dwell Hires Digital Exec

http://www.foliomag.com/2013/dwell-hires-yahoo-commerce-head-run-digital-ops#.UaZAJOuYyKw

Dwell Media has brought on former Yahoo VP of Commerce Brandon Huff to head its growing digital operations, including e-commerce efforts the company has been pursuing since 2010.

The hire comes as the home design and décor publisher announces it will launch its own integrated commerce unit in 2014.

Buyer Sought for Newsweek, Again

http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/report-iac-seeks-buyer-newsweek-updated-149847

IAC has confirmed reports that it's seeking a buyer for the hobbled newsweekly, which has already been sold twice in the past three years, then ended its U.S. print edition. In a memo, The Daily Beast editor Tina Brown and CEO Baba Shetty explained the rationale in a memo, saying that while Newsweek had become a "breakthrough digital product," it was a drain on the Beast.

News Corp. Cuts as Newspapers Are Divested

http://www.adweek.com/news/press/news-corp-plans-cost-cutting-newspapers-are-divested-entertainment-149862

News Corp. chief executive Robert Thomson said cost cuts will be "relentless" as the company's newspaper arm divests from Rupert Murdoch's entertainment assets, Reuters reported.

The new News Corp. will debut on June 28, retaining such properties as The Wall Street Journal, Dow Jones Newswires, The Times of London, HarperCollins, education unit Amplify and Australian pay-TV services.

Economist CEO Leaves for Reuters

http://www.adweek.com/news/press/economist-group-ceo-headed-thomson-reuters-149852

Economist Group CEO Andrew Rashbass is leaving the company after 15 years for another top spot in the news world: a newly created role of CEO at Reuters, in which he will oversee the news and media business arm of Thomson Reuters.