Stora Enso: NewsPress 100 % TMP newsprint launched to better meet customer needs

NewsPress is a well-known newsprint brand in Europe and overseas. Juha Ceder, VP of the News & Book segment at Stora Enso, what was the impetus to now offer a 100 per cent virgin fibre alternative?

We have always adjusted our range of NewsPress papers to respond to shifting demand patterns and consumer preferences. We have a strong 100% recycled fibre based NewsPress offering, but wanted to offer a fully virgin fibre based NewsPress as well.

When making a decision on further production at our Hylte Mill, we had two alternatives available; produce TMP or deinked pulp. From the perspective of raw material and production efficiencies available to us, TMP was considered to be the better alternative.

Markets also appreciate paper made of virgin fibre as it gives body to a printed product. Furthermore, virgin fiber-based products are well perceived by the markets as they increase the fiber inflow into the recycling ecosystem.

Håkan Naij, Mill Director at the company’s Hylte Mill in Sweden, what differences can printers and consumers of newsprint expect between NewsPress recycled and 100 per cent TMP grades?

As our 100% TMP grade is an all-virgin fibre product, this means the paper will have a discernibly firmer structure due to its higher bulk content. Consumers will perceive a fresh look, with stiffer integrity to their newspaper and a delightful tactile feel associated with this paper.

Moreover, this newest grade of NewsPress maintains other Stora Enso paper qualities of outstanding runnability and printability.

From the standpoint of the customer, what will this added choice mean to their own business objectives?

Firstly, there are fewer and fewer mills today that offer 100% virgin fibre newsprint. For printers in markets whose customers continue to expect the same newspaper reading experience, they now have the assurance that our Hylte Mill, which has been exclusively producing newsprint in Sweden for over 50 years, will fulfil their needs.

Secondly, because NewsPress 100% TMP is bulkier than recycled newsprint, customers are able to use a lower substance alternative, and consequently print the same number of pages using fewer tonnes of material. This provides a path for our customers to better target varying weights of both 100% recycled and 100% TMP newsprint to different consumers, while still controlling costs.