Recently Sappi Chairman Eugene van As said that an increase in the price of paper products and therefore print was inevitable. “It is absolutely essential that your basic raw materials suppliers again become profitable and viable so that they can invest in the future. There is a great deal of responsibility on all of our shoulders to make sure that the inevitable change in prices, which has to and will happen to restore acceptable margins, happens in a gradual and structured way so that we do not have violent swings in prices ...”

John Maine is vice president of Resource Information Systems (RISI), an information and research provider for the forest products industry. He commented recently in an article for Folio Magazine. “We definitely see a weak year next year for demand." Specifically Maine says coated paper demand will be weak in 2007 perhaps down as much as 3%. But he thinks it will likely be offset by increases in areas like general commercial printing. But still - the overall decline will be about 1%.

Less efficiency opportunities for paper manufacturers, Internet trends, potentially lower ad pages and another postal increase do not bode well for printers. Be prepared, paper prices will rise in 2007.