Volume 05, Number 4
Sep 1992

Industry Trends

• The Mechanical Printing Paper Section of the CPPA has merged into the Printing and Writing Papers Section, because of "an overlap in members, trade issues affecting the whole sector, the same interests and the same end uses," according to a statement in the June Pulp & Paper Canada (p. 7). (cppa=Canadian Pulp & Paper Association.)
• A new task group on Fiber Composition has been formed within ASTM Committee D-6, as an activity of D06.20 (Permanent Records Papers) and D06.30 (Fine Papers). The group plans to formulate performance standards for a wide array of paper products made from the newer mechanical pulps, CTMP, BCTMP and CMP, which in other parts of the world are said to be classified as "semichemical" pulps. The new standards will not mention fiber composition, but will be based solely on the performance and esthetic needs of the customer. All existing standards for permanent papers limit the amount of mechanical pulp or lignin they can contain, and trade practice for all fine paper limits the amount of "groundwood" or mechanical pulp a fine paper can contain to 10%, because in the days before calcium carbonate was used as a filler, mechanical pulp limited the life of the paper.
• Comment: Whether calcium carbonate entirely negates the effect of mechanical pulp has not been established yet. Only a few studies have been done. Most of them show carbonate-filled high-yield paper to be as stable and long-lasting as buffered paper made from chemical pulp, but there is too little research yet on any kind of alkaline paper to generalize with confidence from those studies to all carbonate-filled high-yield paper. (astm=American Society for Testing and Materials; ctmp=chemithermomechanical pulp; bctmp=bleached chemithermomechanical pulp; and cmp=chemimechanical pulp.)
• The price of northern bleached softwood kraft pulp, which went from $400 a ton in 1985 to $850 a ton in 1989, fell steeply in 1990 and 1991 to $500 a ton, but climbed a bit in 1992 to $550 a ton, which is just where it was twelve years ago. Bleached softwood kraft makes up 40% of the world's pulp production, according to an article on pulp prices in the August Pulp & Paper.
• The U.S. has not been a big exporter of printing and writing paper; in fact, it has been a net importer. That may be changing. Exports grew by 39% and 40% in 1990 and 1991, according to Irene Meister of the API, who has been working toward that end (PIMA Magazine, Aug. 1992, p. 44).