below please find a selection of the latest news from the world of pulp and paper.

At the turn of the year, ipw, bio-fibre magazine, P3 and our sister magazines Paperazzo and Druckspiegel moved to Austrian-based publisher Blatt & Feder. While this doesn't change anything for you as a reader, it meant a lot of work for me - especially around the holidays. The first change was the server location - all of our online portals and services are now hosted in Germany. If you noticed any outages between Christmas and New Year in this connection, please excuse this. Minor adjustments will follow in the next few days, which means that one or two short “hitches” cannot be completely ruled out. But the essential work has been done and we are back on air!

ipw news

Chinese tissue producer Hengan International Group started up a Tadvision^® tissue machine supplied by Toscotec at their headquarters facility in Fujian. This is the second of two TAD (Through-Air-Drying) machines that Toscotec supplied to Hengan, of which the first came online in 2023 at their Xiaogan mill in Hubei.

Venator - a global manufacturer of pigments and additives – today announced a mandatory price increase of €300/t for all titanium dioxide pigments and performance additive products sold in Europe, Africa and the Middle East (EMEA), effective February 1, 2025 (customer terms permitting). This adjustment is necessary to address the sustained elevated and volatile energy costs that are impacting manufacturing across Europe.

The Swedish-made coloured paper Kaskad from Lessebo Paper, a classic beloved for its high quality and versatility, is back in the Nordic market after a hiatus. It is now available as a stock item at Addbrand. The distributor Addbrand is reintroducing the Kaskad paper series in A4 format for distribution in Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and Finland. The paper is already in stock, initial deliveries have been dispatched, and the customer response has been overwhelmingly positive.

SCA will increase the price on NBSK pulp (Northern Bleached Softwood Kraft) in Europe by 50 USD per tonne. The new price will be effective February 1st. “We observe improvements in several global markets, while producer stocks are decreasing,” comments Henning Ellström, VP Sales and Marketing Pulp.

Paris Packaging Week at the Paris Expo Porte de Versailles exhibition centre is a global event for the cosmetics, beverage, luxury and aerosol packaging industries. It is the perfect meeting place for brand owners, material suppliers and service providers along the entire value chain. An important driver for the industry is sustainability. From 28 to 29 January 2025, Mondi will be demonstrating at Stand E34 how paper packaging can support the sustainability efforts of branded goods manufacturers in the luxury segment. With its broad portfolio, Mondi offers luxury goods manufacturers a wide range of sustainable papers for high-quality luxury packaging.

By updating its bks+ ultrasonic web edge sensors, microsonic packs maximum performance into a compact, rugged housing. The new bks+ web edge sensors are equipped with the latest IO-Link version 1.1.3. This enables seamless integration into modern production environments and further optimises monitoring of the material position. The web edge sensors offer a wide working range of 12 mm or 40 mm.

Arauco, a global forest industry company, has awarded AFRY an EPCM (Engineering, Procurement, Construction Management) assignment for the Balance of Plant of its new greenfield pulp mill in Inocência, in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil.

bio-fibre news

Södra’s mission is focused on members’ forests and to process their raw material, thereby creating value for these forest estates. Södra has therefore, as a step in implementing its strategy, decided to initiate a process to divest its forest holding and related activities in the Baltics. In order to do what’s best for forest estates and Södra’s long-term competitiveness, the holding is routinely evaluated against business needs.

“At Billerud, we are aware of how forests’ ecosystems and functionality benefit society, the environment, and business. Throughout our sustainable supply chain, we know that our raw material is traceable and controlled. We always strive for certified wood, responsible management, and reforestation. Now, we made a film about responsible manufacturing and how to shape a better tomorrow.”