UPM extends product portfolio at Jämsänkoski paper mill
The trials for newsprint paper production on the paper machine 6 at UPM Jämsänkoski paper mill as well as paper test runs at printing plants have been successful. As a consequence of this, the product portfolio of uncoated mechanical papers of the paper machine 6 will, in the future, be extended to cover newsprint paper also.
“Our employees have invested a great deal of effort and development work in recent weeks to get to where we stand today. We have developed high-quality coldset paper grades, especially for domestic newsprint customers and the feedback from our customers’ test runs has been extremely good. With those enlarged capabilities of Jämsänkoski paper mill, 6 UPM is able to deliver newsprint qualities uninterruptedly to Finland. This is keeping our site flexible and competitive,” says Antti Hermonen, general manager, UPM Jämsänkoski.
A complete range of SC and newspaper grades can now be produced on-site in Jämsänkoski, focusing on its Finnish and Nordic customers with high-quality products for newspapers, magazines, and advertising supplements.
“The new development enables UPM Communication Papers to respond quickly to the changing needs of the paper markets while offering strong, fast, and reliable local services. At the same time, we underline our commitment to the graphic paper industry and our customers”, says Peter Tietz, sales director, News & Retail, Nordic, and Overseas.
The project was safely and efficiently completed despite restrictions of Covid-19 in close cooperation with the customers during October.
2023 promises an interesting ride for print in India
Indian Printer and Publisher founded in 1979 is the oldest B2B trade publication in the multi-platform and
multi-channel IPPGroup. While the print and packaging industries have been resilient in the past 33 months since the pandemic lockdown of 25 March 2020, the commercial printing and newspaper industries have yet to recover their pre-Covid trajectory.
The fragmented commercial printing industry faces substantial challenges as does the newspaper industry.
While digital short-run printing and the signage industry seem to be recovering a bit faster, ultimately
their growth will also be moderated by the progress of the overall economy. On the other hand book
printing exports are doing well but they too face several supply-chain and logistics challenges.
The price of publication papers including newsprint has been high in the past year while availability is diminished by several mills shutting down their publication paper and newsprint machines in the past four years. Indian paper mills are also exporting many types of paper and have raised prices for Indian printers. To some extent, this has helped in the recovery of the digital printing industry with its on-demand short-run and low-wastage paradigm.
Ultimately digital print and other digital channels will help print grow in a country where we are still far behind in our paper and print consumption and where digital is a leapfrog technology that will only increase the demand for print in the foreseeable future. For instance, there is no alternative to a rise in textbook consumption but this segment will only reach normality in the next financial year beginning on 1 April 2023.
Thus while the new normal is a moving target and many commercial printers look to diversification, we believe that our target audiences may shift and change. Like them, we will also have to adapt with agility to keep up with their business and technical information needs.
Our 2023 media kit is ready, and it is the right time to take stock and reconnect with your potential markets and customers. Print is the glue for the growth of liberal education, new industry, and an emerging economy. We seek your participation in what promises to be an interesting ride.
