Pulp Mills Taking Downtime

Alberta-Pacific (Alpac) and Sappi Fine Paper North America (Sappi) will separately idle two market northern bleached hardwood kraft (NBHK) pulp mills in Canada and the USA in April. 

In Canada, Alpac is scheduled to idle production at its 650,000 tonnes/yr market pulp mill at Boyle, AB, on April 30. Workers will perform annual maintenance for 14 days before restarting the facility

in mid-May, a contact said.

Vancouver-headquartered Alpac will trim an estimated 25,000 tonnes of market NBHK output during
the outage. In addition to aspen grade NBHK, Boyle makes northern bleached softwood kraft (NBSK).
Meantime in Minnesota, Sappi will idle its 455,000 tonnes/yr Cloquet pulp mill in April for 28 days as workers finish the last tie-ins of a major project that will make it a dissolving pulp (DP) mill.
Cloquet is scheduled to shutdown NBHK production in the first week of April and restart on May 5, when it will produce kraft pulp for a month while officials test the new system.
The outage will shed 1,450 tonnes/day of pulp output with an estimated 41,000 tonnes of total pulp getting clipped. Based on its typical 250,000 tonnes/yr of market NBHK output, the downtime will cut an estimated 19,000 tonnes of market NBHK production.

Nippon WA Union Workers Walk

http://www.peninsuladailynews.com/article/20130320/NEWS/303209990/breaking-about-130-nippon-paper-union-workers-walk-off-job

More than 100 Nippon union workers walked off the job this morning over stalled contract talks, a top union official said. Greg Pallesen, vice president of the Association of Western Pulp and Paper

Workers, said about 130 workers were to begin walking off the job at 11 a.m. and that informational pickets will be set up.

Pallesen served company officials with a strike notice earlier this morning, he said. Workers were still streaming out of the plant at the base of Ediz Hook at 11:15 a.m.
“We’ll take whatever action we need to do and go from there,” Pallesen told Peninsula Daily News.
Hourly workers at the mill are members of of AWPPW Local 155. 
They have been in contract talks with Nippon for 22 months. Without union consent, Nippon on Monday imposed a contract that members had already rejected.

Catalyst Sells 50% Powell River Energy

http://catalystpaper.com/

Catalyst Paper announced today that it has completed the sale of its approximately 50% interest in Powell River Energy Inc. and Powell River Energy Limited Partnership to Powell River Energy Trust, a Brookfield Renewable Energy affiliate, for 33 million.

Approximately 12.7 million of the net proceeds of the sale will be distributed to certain unsecured creditors of Catalyst pursuant to its plan of arrangement under the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act through the Monitor, Pricewaterhouse Coopers. The company will offer to purchase a portion of its Floating Rate Senior Secured Notes with the balance of the net proceeds

Resolute Idling Fort Frances PM

Resolute Forest Products Announces Indefinite Idling of Kraft Mill and Paper Machine in Fort Frances: Resolute Forest Products (NYSE: RFP) (TSX: RFP) announced the indefinite idling of the kraft mill and paper machine number 5 (PM5) at its pulp and paper operation in Fort Frances, Ontario (photo). The kraft mill has an annual production capacity of approximately 200,000 metric tons of market pulp, while PM5 has an annual capacity of 105,000 metric tons of groundwood specialty printing papers.
Resolute is exploring alternative product possibilities for its Fort Frances pulp mill, which will be idled in a manner that will protect the equipment.
The idling of PM5 is driven by the decrease in consumption as well as the high value of the Canadian dollar.

Greenpeace Regrets Statements Re Resolute

http://foresttalk.com/index.php/2013/03/19/greenpeace-provides-notice-of-correction-regarding-resolute-forest-products-operations/

On December 6 2012, Greenpeace Canada made statements regarding Resolute Forest Products which incorrectly stated that Resolute had breached the Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement by approving and developing roads in “areas of suspended harvest” and that Resolute was secretly engaged in logging, contrary to the terms of the Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement. These statements were repeated and republished in subsequent publications.

Greenpeace has learned that the above-mentioned statements are incorrect and has removed any reference to the statements from all its materials. Greenpeace sincerely regrets its error. 
Greenpeace has extended its regrets to Resolute Forest Products, and to ForestTalk.com.

AF&PA Reports Kraft, Containerboard, Boxboard Ships

http://www.afandpa.org/

Total Kraft paper shipments were 119 thousand tons, a decrease of 15 percent compared to the prior month.  Bleached Kraft paper shipments increased year-over-year 13 percent while unbleached

Kraft paper shipments decreased 13 percent year-over-year.     
Containerboard production fell 10.2 percent over January 2012 and 1.7 percent over the same month last year.  However, the month-over-month average daily production decreased just 0.5 percent.  The containerboard operating rate for February 2013 lost 0.5 points over January 2012, from 97.1 percent to 96.6 percent.  
Total boxboard production decreased by 1.9 percent compared to February 2012 and decreased 5.6 percent from last month.  Unbleached Kraft Boxboard production decreased over the same month last year and decreased compared to last month.  Total Solid Bleached Boxboard & Liner production decreased compared to February 2012 and decreased compared to last month.  

National Geographic et al Release Study

http://www.greenamerica.org/pdf/NatGeo-LCA-Report-2013.pdf

Using recovered fiber in place of virgin fiber for magazine paper has a benefit in 14 of 14 environmental impact categories studied, according to a life-cycle assessment (LCA) issued today by ENVIRON International Corporation.

Supreme Court Decision Favors Timber Industry

Georgia-Pacific Responds To Supreme Court Decision In Forest Roads Case:
The U.S. Supreme Court has overturned the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court's decision in the case of Georgia-Pacific West, Inc. v. NEDC, Sup. Ct. No. 11-347, commonly referred to as the "forest roads" case.

In a ruling announced this morning, the decision overturns a 2011 ruling by a three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit Court that reversed 35 years of regulation governing management of rainwater runoff from forest roads. Originally, the Ninth Circuit Court had rejected the Environmental Protection Agency's longstanding interpretation of the Clean Water Act and would have required forest road operators in the states under its jurisdiction to obtain Clean Water Act discharge permits for ditches, drains and culverts that channel rain runoff from their roads -- treating rain runoff from forest roads used for logging the same as industrial sources.

http://www.afandpa.org/

American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA) President and CEO Donna Harman issued the following statement today in response to the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that reversed the Ninth Circuit court decision in Northwest Environmental Defense Center v. Brown (NEDC v. Brown). The U.S. Supreme Court held that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has authority to exempt discharges of channeled stormwater runoff from logging roads from Clean Water Act point source permitting.

Two Sides: Victory in Go Paperless Campaign

Two Sides claims victory as Go Paperless campaign drops 'save trees' message:
The campaign caused surprise and criticism in the industry when it launched in January, urging people to "Save money. Save time. Save trees".
Two Sides reacted with an open letter to Google's chairman Eric Schmidt, which spoke of "some incredulity" at the ‘Go Paperless in 2013' drive, while pointing out Google's own environmental impact.
But now the Paperless 2013 website has been revised, leading Two Sides to claim victory. Images of trees and claims about paper's negative impact on the environment have been removed, while the tag line has been changed to "Take the paper out of paperwork".

Who’s REALLY Consuming Print?

Who’s REALLY Consuming Print?:
by Joanne Gore
“In the last decade, while the digital marketing space has gotten noisier and considerably less effective, print has enjoyed a renaissance of increased conversion rates and marketing return on investment. Customers actually appreciate getting a nice postcard, well-designed catalogue, or personal thank you note in the mail today.” (via www.printisbig.com)
• Catalogues – According to Forbes, even with everyone on the Internet, catalogues are still mailing in the billions (with a B) and the reason from the marketers’ perspective is the foundation of direct marketing: catalogues work! They more than pay for the costs of getting them into the hands of customers and prospects.
I was recently at a tradeshow featuring the latest and greatest in premium incentives. And what were the vendors handing out? Catalogues! I wondered why they didn’t simply hand out cards with QR codes that went directly to the catalogue online and so I asked why. The answer I got? “We tried that. We found the majority of people still want a tangible, printed catalogue.” Still not sold? Consider this: The IKEA catalogue is the 3^rd most printed publication in the world. (via information-facts.cotm).

Forbes Publishes Spanish Edition

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/18/business/media/spanish-magazine-publisher-bets-against-the-crisis.html?src=rechp&pagewanted=print

Andrés Rodríguez, the publisher and founder of SpainMedia, has the most at stake in the debut this month of a Spanish-language edition of Forbes, the U.S. business magazine, in crisis-hit Spain. 
For Forbes Inc., the New York-based publisher of Forbes Magazine and his partner in the Spanish licensing venture, “their only risk is if the magazine really proves a failure, because that could hurt their image,” Mr. Rodríguez said Thursday during an interview in his office, inside what had been an abandoned printing-equipment plant.

Annual Retail Trends Survey

http://www.retailonlineintegration.com/article/search-engine-25058638/1

A move away from online channels and toward physical spaces — e.g., pop-up, outlet and brick-and-mortar stores — to market products is trending for Retail Online integration readers, at least according to this year's Annual Trends Survey. They'll also rely more on television, digital catalogs and social media this year to increase consumer engagement and ultimately grow sales. Their biggest challenge? For the third year in a row, customer acquisition.

The ZIP Code Collection Debate Continues

http://www.retailonlineintegration.com/article/the-zip-code-collection-debate-retailers-continues/1 

As of last week, two states have now declared that asking for customers’ ZIP codes in-store at the point of sale violates their privacy laws.

Court Ruling on ZIP Codes Challenges Retailers 

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled last week that retailers that record customers’ ZIP codes when they make credit card transactions can be sued under Massachusetts consumer privacy law because they're retaining personal identification information. California's Supreme Court made a similar ruling in 2011.

Supreme Court Rules Against Publisher

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/03/19/us-usa-court-copyright-idUSBRE92I0MV20130319

The Supreme Court on Tuesday said U.S. copyright holders cannot block the resale inside the country of products they make elsewhere, a major case affecting the annual importation of tens of billions of dollars of gray market goods.
By a 6-3 vote, the country's highest court said the "first sale doctrine" applies to copies of a copyrighted work lawfully made abroad.

http://publishers.org/press/98/ 
The following statement was released today by Tom Allen, President and CEO, the Association of American Publishers, in response to the Supreme Court’s decision in Kirtsaeng v. John Wiley & Sons, Inc:
“We are disappointed that today’s copyright decision by the US Supreme Court ignores broader issues critical to America’s ability to compete in the global marketplace...

Nielsen (Not Big Brother) is Watching

http://adage.com/article/media/nielsen-tracks-bank-statements-credit-card-transactions/240439/

Nielsen is going beyond trying to track everything you watch to tracking everything you buy -- adding data from what an executive said is "virtually all" credit and debit-card purchases plus bank statements, including online bill payments and paper checks, to what it already gets from food and drugstore purchases.Nielsen is anonymously matching all that data through an undisclosed third party to members of its TV ratings panel, an executive of the company told Advertising Age, and plans to expand such matching to online and other measurement services

Elsevier Launches New Title

http://www.sacbee.com/2013/03/20/5277457/elsevier-announces-the-launch.html

Elsevier, a world-leading provider of scientific, technical and medical information products and services, is pleased to announce the launch of Wound Medicine - The International Wound Journal for Clinical and Health Economics Research and Applications. 
Published in print and online four times a year Wound Medicine is devoted to the clinical, scientific and health economics aspects in the prevention, management and reimbursement in wound care.

Williams-Sonoma Reports Q4 Results

http://news.yahoo.com/williams-sonoma-4q-profit-rises-221728957.html

Williams-Sonoma Inc.'s fourth-quarter net income jumped 9 percent to beat market expectations on gains at its West Elm brand and the benefit of an extra week in the period.

The San Francisco company also said that it is increasing its quarterly dividend by 41 percent and plans to repurchase shares. The news sent the home furnishing company's shares up sharply in after-hours trading Tuesday.

Wal-Mart Pushes Senate to Tax Online Retailers

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-03-20/wal-mart-pushes-senate-victory-against-ebay-led-exemption.html

Brick-and-mortar retailers like Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) see an opportunity to claim victory in a lobbying duel against online companies that don’t collect sales tax from their customers.

Retailers are urging U.S. senators to take a non-binding vote this week to demonstrate support for allowing states to impose sales taxes on out-of-state online sellers. Opponents including EBay Inc. (EBAY) have prevented House or Senate action so far in a decade-long dispute.

Congress Votes to Keep Saturday Delivery

Congress Votes to Force Postal Service to Keep Saturday Delivery: The financially beleaguered U.S. Postal Service suffered a setback in its plan to end Saturday delivery of first-class mail as Congress on Thursday passed legislation requiring six-day delivery. The House of Representatives on Thursday gave final approval to the legislation, known as a continuing resolution, that maintains the provision, sending it to President Barack Obama to sign into law. The Senate approved the measure on Wednesday.

Print Reaches All Ages, Including Millenials

Print Reaches All Ages, Including Early Adopter Millenials: Today's consumers move between multiple devices and media platforms. TV still has the greatest reach, mobile is gaining ground, and print retains its reach among all age groups -- including younger adults. What will be a surprise to some is that traditional media -- newspapers, magazines and radio -- also does well reaching the 18-34 year-old age group.
Looking at a key sub-group of Millenials --  the 52% of those who rank above average when it comes to being early adopters of technology -- traditional media still plays a key role in their lives. In the 7 days prior to the survey, 93% watched TV, 83% listened to the radio, 66% read a newspaper and 62% read a magazine.

Amazon Debuts 'Send to Kindle' Button

Amazon debuts 'Send to Kindle' button for publishers: Amazon.com Inc. has introduced a “Send to Kindle” button that Web publishers can add to their articles, enabling users to aggregate various content on Kindle devices for later viewing.
The button, which also can be added to WordPress blog posts, offers a function similar to read-it-later services Pocket and Instapaper. The Washington Post, Boing Boing and Time are the first to integrate the button, Amazon said in its Kindle Daily Post blog.