Paper

Paper manufacturer Asia Pulp and Paper has launched its new flag ship product from its new Hainan Jinhai paper mill in China.

The two-sided coated paper will be available in Gloss and Matt coating from 150 to 270 gsm. Anil Sharma from APP's corporate product development presented the new product at a road show in Dubai held on 19th July 2010. The road show was attended by over 200 people who were mainly UAE printers and paper distributors from the region. Next show is planned in October in other neighbouring countries.

He said: "Our new specialised paper machine from Voith is with width of 11m and speed of 2000 m/min. The four layers coated paper generates smooth surface which is essential to achieve excellent printing quality.

"The other advantages of this paper include less ink penetration in the paper, uniform ink layer, sharp images resulting into no show through and better print appearance. While calculating cost of customer, our new paper provide printers an extra yield of 11%. This is because 180gsm of Hi-Kote paper is having properties better than other 200gsm paper of competitors," he said.

APP's executive director Suresh Kilam gave presentation on current paper trends in the market. "The demand for paper and board in 2010 was 415 million tonnes. The combined share of North America and West Europe shrunk from 62 to 42% in last 10 years mainly because of high cost and less exposure to new technology.

"On the other hand China's production capacity has increased from 36 to 92 million metric tonnes in last ten years. Our forecast for 2020 is that the worldwide demand would be 495 million tonnes and China will grow to 168 million metric tonnes," he said.