Q3 Paper Outlook — Beaten to a Pulp

Looking beyond the headlines of falling prices and industry consolidation, there are other paper-related developments impacting the industry. One is the aforementioned growth in use of supercalendered papers. Hoping to add momentum to the trend, The SC Council (an international association of supercalendered paper manufacturers) announced plans to launch a high-impact ad campaign targeting volume printed product users. The campaign will focus "on the significant cost savings offered by SC paper, while delivering printed results comparable in quality to No. 5 LWC," according to the announcement.

"From all perspectives, SC paper provides printers and printing buyers with an important set of options and the flexibility to control costs at several points in the production and distribution process," says Mario Albanese, executive director of The SC Council. "It's an important message that we need to hammer home to publishers, catalogers, FSI media and every other volume printing buyer."

A development that can cut across all grades of paper is the use of recycled stocks. While the natural inclination may be to think "been there, done that," proponents say there are signs of renewed interest in environmentally friendly or sustainable manufacturing processes.

Altman Printing, in Spartanburg, SC, has begun marketing what it calls the Environmental Triad, a term it has registered as a trademark. The term refers to the use of UV inks (instead of the heatset process), direct-to-plate imaging and recycled paper with postconsumer-waste content on the shop's eight-color web offset press. "We see a market for people who believe in helping the environment, personally or on a corporate level," says Lee Altman, marketing manager.

Altman concedes that his company is having to develop the market for the most part, rather than servicing an existing demand. He says he hit on the concept largely by accident while reviewing the entry form for Printing Industries of America's Premier Print Awards (also known as the Benny awards).