Monday, September 23, 2013

North America P&W Paper August Shipments Reported

The Pulp and Paper Products Council reported North American coated mechanical paper shipments for the month of August fell -9.2%, demand declined -9.6% and imports were down -28.8%. The operating rate was 90%. Coated woodfree shipments decreased -2.9% for the month, demand fell -4.4% and imports were down -3%. The operating rate was 91%. Uncoated woodfree shipments declined -3.4%, demand fell -2.9%, but imports rose +4.1%. The operating rate was 91%. SC-A/SC-A+ shipments for the month grew +21.5%, demand increased +18.4% and imports were up +16.6%. SC-B/SNC+ shipments fell -0.6%, but demand rose +9.5%. The operating rate for Supercalendered papers was 84%.

Boise Announces Price Changes

Boise announced an increase of $3.00/cwt, effective October 18, for the following grades of printing papers: Boise® Offset, Boise® ASPEN® Offset, Boise® Midweight Opaque, Boise® ASPEN® Midweight Opaque, Boise® Wove Envelope White, Boise® Hi-Bulk Envelope White, Boise® ASPEN® Wove Envelope, Boise® FIREWORX® Wove Envelope, Boise® Kraft Envelope, Boise® Index, Boise® Laser Ledger and Boise® Tag-X
Orders acknowledged before September 20 will ship at the acknowledged price.

Glatfelter Announces Increases

Glatfelter has announced an increase of $3.00/cwt, effective with shipments on or after October 23 on the following uncoated grades: Moisturerite ®Form Bond, Moisturite®MICR Colors, Transform®Laser MOCR, Shawnee Vellum Bristol, Logan® Reply Card, Hopewell Offset, Spring Forge® Offset, Worthington®Index, Tiffin® Tag, Carbonizing Bond and Scioto Ledger. The increase also applies to the following book grades: Spring® Forge Offset, Spring Forge® Digital, Thor® PWC, Thor® Plus, Glatfelter Offset, Glatfelter End Leaf, Natures® End Leaf, Natures® Book, Conserve®, digiBook®, Pixelle Book® and Stabilite.

NewPage Adds New Coated Digital Brand

http://www.newpagecorp.com/wps/portal/corporate/home/!ut/p/c5/04_SB8K8xLLM9MSSzPy8xBz9CP0os3ifAG8jD28TI3cLY0djA08zPx8T_5BQYwN3Q_1wkA6zeFd3Mz9fH1NDA_dQHzMDz2CDUNNA3zBDC2MTiLwBDuBooO_nkZ-bql-QnZ3m6KioCAAzqV6s/dl3/d3/L2dBISEvZ0FBIS9nQSEh/
NewPage Corporation (NewPage) announced today the expansion of its economy coated digital paper brand, Blazer Digital®, to now include 130 lb. gloss and satin cover. Blazer Digital offers a 90 brightness and pleasing blue-white shade for end-use applications such as direct mail, brochures, flyers, postcards, books, magazines and catalogs.

Exigent Postal Rate Hike Request Expected

http://www.dmnews.com/exigent-postal-rate-hike-request-expected-next-week/article/312770/
Expect a request for an exigent rate increase to be filed by the Postal Board of Governors when they meet in Kansas City, KS, next week. That's the dire warning from direct mail industry officials following hearings held by the Senate on the Postal Reform Act (PRA) yesterday.
“It was pretty obvious after listening to the Postmaster General that the Board of of Governors is ready to file an exigent rate increase, so I think the industry should be prepared for that,” says DMA SVP of Government Affairs Jerry Cerasale, who testified before the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe said at the hearing that the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) should be allowed to adjust prices in competitive products, and he gave a vote of confidence that the postal board would be judicious in the amount of increase it might seek.
“What happened at the hearing is certainly not going to increase confidence that a deal is imminent with the House on postal reform, so it would not be surprising to see [the board] file,” says Patrick Henderson, director of government affairs for Quad/Graphics.

Opportunities and Casualties of the Time Inc. Spinoff

http://ipdahome.org/newsstand/?cat=296
A summary of Time Inc. properties that are severing relationships with Time Warner properties as Time Inc. prepares to spin off, and the potential opportunities and challenges posed by these changes. 

IAC: Daily Beast Won’t Be Sold or Shut Down

http://ipdahome.org/newsstand/?cat=296
The Daily Beast will live to see at least another year. ”The Daily Beast is not for sale and is not closing,” interim CEO Rhona Murphy said in a statement Friday. Parent company IAC has approved “in concept” an operating budget for 2014 for the site, which includes a redesign.

Reinventing Book Printing Toward a Hybrid Market

http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/manufacturing/article/59191-reinventing-book-printing-toward-a-hybrid-market.html
Even though the physical book market is more unpredictable than ever, “print is here to stay,” declares Stuart Applebaum, spokesman for Penguin Random House. But that doesn’t mean it is business as usual at the country’s largest trade publisher when it comes to its manufacturing strategy. “Our accounts are more conservative in the amount of inventory risk they want to take on, and so are we,” Applebaum adds. “Large print runs increasingly result in excess inventory. Fast turns and shorter, more frequent print runs are what we need now, and our partnerships with printers will need to reflect this new paradigm.”
Printing flexibility is important because evidence continues to mount showing that sales of e-books are much deeper in some categories than in others.

Magazines, Cable TV, Digital Ad Spending Up

http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/209643/us-media-spend-cable-tv-digital-mags-record-u.html#axzz2fkIyG7rP
U.S. media spending slipped a bit in August -- but is up for the year as a whole.
According to the Standard Media Index estimates, U.S. media spending was down 3% in August, but it is still up 7% for the year through August. SMI research comes from media agencies including VivaKi, Mediabrands, Aegis Media and Havas Media, which represent 60% of total U.S. media agency spend.
For the month of August, digital media had the best results -- up 16%. Digital media has gained 21% in year-to-date results.

Four Gannett Papers Expanding Print with USA Today

http://jimromenesko.com/2013/09/19/four-gannett-newspapers-will-get-a-daily-usa-today-insert/
USA Today publisher Larry Kramer tells his employees that an edition of USA Today will go inside four Gannett papers starting Oct. 6. The papers involved in this pilot project — dubbed the Butterfly — are the Indianapolis Star, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, Appleton (WI) Post-Crescent, and Fort Myers News-Press.