Investigation Moves Shandong Huatai to Shut PM

Shandong Huatai Paper has halted production on a 400,000 tonne/yr newsprint PM at its flagship mill in Dongying city, Shandong province due to a pollution investigation.
A spokesperson from the firm said that PM 11 has suspended production.

The machine was supplied by Voith Paper and started up in 2005. It has a width of 10.2 m and a design speed of 2,000 m/min.
In mid-May, China's Ministry of Environment issued a circular listing several pollution cases.
According to the circular, Shandong Huatai has not properly treated sludge at its storage yard, and its landfill site does not have the necessary water treatment facilities to handle the sludge.
This is not in compliance with the country's regulations on waste treatment.
The ministry made the firm to halt production and requires it to solve the issue by the end of November.
Early last month, Shandong Huatai said the incident would not affect its production.
However, it recently announced it would suspend production on the PM, explaining that the firm planned to use the presently inadequate landfill site to handle the sludge from the unit.

Shandong Huatai has long been China's biggest newsprint producer.

IP Raises Paperboard Prices

http://www.internationalpaper.com/US/EN/index.html

International Paper has informed customers of new $45/ton price increases on coated bleached paperboard grades effective July 29.

The company will raise its Everest grades of folding carton board and clay coated bleached liner as well as its Fortress grade of folding carton board and all Starcote grades.
IP will also raise its Carolina coated one-side blanks from 14 pt to 28 pt caliper by the same amount.

Caraustar Raises Core, Tube Prices

http://www.caraustar.com/

Caraustar Industries, Inc. announced a price increase of 5% on all paper tube and core product lines.
The increase will be effective with shipments beginning August 1, 2013. The increase is primarily in response to increases in recycled paperboard prices and other external costs.

Paper Industry/European Commission Bio Initiative

http://www.risiinfo.com/techchannels/powerenergy/CEPI-and-48-companies-partner-with-European-Commission-in-Euro-38-billion-bio-based-industry-initiative.html

Today 48 companies joined forces with the European Commission to set up an unprecedented Public-Private Partnership (PPP) for bio-based industries. The PPP brings together €3.8 billion to advance the bioeconomy in Europe. The European pulp and paper industry is a strategic partner in this PPP, with 13 of the 48 member companies from the sector as well as CEPI (Confederation of European Paper Industries) as an associate member.

http://www.packagingeurope.com/Packaging-Europe-News/54177/Paper-Industry-Partners-with-European-Commission-in-BioBased-Industry-Initiative.html

Pitney Bowes on Royal Mail Privatization

http://whattheythink.com/news/64433-pitney-bowes-statement-royal-mail-privatization/

Plans to privatise the Royal Mail were announced today by business minister Michael Fallon, who said that: "it is increasingly being run as a commercial business, it has modernised thanks to the efforts of management and indeed the workforce. It's been turned round in the last two or three years and it's ready now to take its place as one of the great British companies.”

Ian Davidson, President of Pitney Bowes GMS, said: “The Royal Mail must support small to medium businesses in facing challenges as they seek to retain, acquire and cross-sell their services in a tough economic climate.  Without the support of metered mail and secure discounts, the Royal Mail’s services could be devalued due to the additional costs companies would have to absorb sending business mail.   If metered mail discounts are protected, then this privatisation is something Pitney Bowes is prepared to support.”

Hearst's Jumpstart Auto Partners with Dealer.com

http://www.foliomag.com/2013/hearsts-jumpstart-auto-group-partners-dealer-com#.Ud7LY1OYyKw
Hearst's Jumpstart Automotive Group, which contains the Car and Driver, Road & Track and JD Power Autos brands, among others, has partnered with Dealer.com to allow the site's audience of car dealerships to market to Hearst's automotive audience.
Dealer.com is essentially a digital marketing arm and website developer for car dealerships across the U.S. The outfit runs digital marketing programs for 12,000 dealerships and its network of sites attracts about 36 million unique visitors per month.
Under terms of the agreement, Dealer.com will be able to sell tier 3 display advertising for local dealerships on Jumpstart's network of sites, which attracts about 25 million monthly uniques. -->

ALM Eliminates Jobs

http://www.foliomag.com/2013/alm-eliminates-35-positions-edit-and-production#.Ud7K9lOYyKw

One of the after-effects of creating a "digital-first" operation, as many publishers are doing these days, is what to do with a sizable share of the employee base that's been dedicated to the print products. In the case of legal information media company ALM, it's had to cut 35 positions among its editorial and production ranks. 
The cuts were made at the end of June and there were no associated print closures. 
The official statement from Kevin Michielsen, chief operating officer of ALM, which employs about 800 people, claims that the eliminations were not a cost-cutting measure, but rather intended to streamline operations.

PCWorld Ends Print Version

http://www.foliomag.com/2013/idgs-pcworld-going-digital-only#.Ud7LKlOYyKw

After 30 years in print, the current August issue of PCWorld will be the last, IDG announced today. The magazine will switch to a digital-only format from now on.
There are 339,000 print subscribers, per the title's AAM audit report, and if they want it, they'll need to register online to receive the digital version of the title.
No staff will be impacted by the move, says the company, and the transition to digital is only for the U.S. edition of PCWorld.

CEO Confidence Rises Again

http://whattheythink.com/news/64429-ceo-confidence-rises-again/?utm_source=whattheythink&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss
The Conference Board Measure of CEO Confidence™, which had increased in the first quarter of 2013, improved again in the second quarter. The Measure now reads 62, up from 54 last quarter (a reading of more than 50 points reflects more positive than negative responses).  
Says Lynn Franco, Director of Economic Indicators at The Conference Board: “CEO Confidence, much like consumer confidence, posted a strong gain in the second quarter. CEOs are more upbeat about short-term growth prospects in most markets, including Europe, and expectations for India and China remained positive, but flat.”  

Ad Pages Drop 4.1% in First Half

http://www.foliomag.com/2013/ad-pages-fall-4-9-percent-first-half#.Ud8RRVOYyKw

Print ad pages are down for the eighth-consecutive quarter, but the pace of those losses is slowing down.

Total consumer magazine ad pages were down 4.5 percent year-over-year for the quarter and 4.9 percent for the first half of 2013, according to the latest numbers from PIB and the MPA-The Association of Magazine Media.
The second quarter, which has been strong historically, marks the third quarter in a row that losses have slowed across the industry however.
Broken down by category, the health and wellness segment had a successful first half with Men's Fitness (36.1 percent), Women's Health (26.9) and Men's Health (24.8) each posting percentage improvements in the top 10 among all consumer magazines. Food titles also saw significant gains as Eating Well (46.5), Bon Appetit (25.0) and Food Network Magazine (15.4) were bunched near the top.

IDG Launches Ad Exchange

http://www.foliomag.com/2013/idg-enterprise-launches-ad-exchange#.Ud8QcFOYyKw
IDG Communications' Enterprise group, which includes Computerworld, InfoWorld, CIO and a number of other brands targeting the enterprise tech and IT market, has launched a private ad exchange, joining the ranks of other publishers, such as Hearst and Condé Nast, in an effort to tap into the growing programmatic buying market.

Media M&A Prices Hold

http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/204331/media-ma-prices-hold-dollar-volume-drops.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+mediadailynews+%28MediaPost+|+MediaDailyNews%29&utm_content=Netvibes#axzz2Ya6RbCZY
Media and marketing acquisition deals -- and their relative pricing -- stayed the same for the first six months of 2013 versus the second half of 2012. But the total dollar volume declined significantly.
Investment banking advisory firm Berkery Noyes said there were 794 deals in the first six months of 2013 versus 800 in the previous period, the second half of 2012, with total volume declining 37% to $29.4 billion. In the first half of 2012, there were 853 deals with a value of 28.8 million.
The average price of those deals -- in terms of cash flow multiples -- stayed about the same versus the second half of the year, at 8.3 times the sales price. (It was at 8.0 for the first six months of 2012.) In terms of revenue multiple for those deals, the first half of 2013 rose to 2.1 times the sale price from 1.6 times in the second half of 2012.

The Changing Role of Magazines

http://www.minonline.com/news/22713.html
A recent study conducted by the VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland examined the role that magazines must assume in order to continuously be successful in this ever-changing world of technology and the internet.
According to VTT, it all starts with understanding the consumer, which will dictate how the product or service must be tailored and presented. When trying to reach a younger audience, which the study calls “digital natives,” magazines must take into account that this demographic has grown up with the internet as the main source of information and entertainment. Trends show that consumers spend more and more of their leisure time on digital media, but printed magazines are still used as a relaxing and “slow” media. Thus, magazines must be available through multiple platforms, including online or mobile forms, as well as hybrids using elements that enable seamless shifting between print and digital content. Already magazines are using technologies such as 2D barcodes and augmented reality to provide interactivity for readers.