Naples, FL—The Paper Committee of the Gravure Catalog and Insert Council (GCIC) addressed paper inventories at the 2001 GCIC Conference, held here Nov. 13-15. At both printing companies and mills, inventory levels of uncoated groundwood are normal. Likewise, printers possess normal inventory of coated groundwood, but levels at the mills are slightly below normal, following downtime earlier this year. Inventories of coated freesheet are slightly higher than normal at both the printers and the mills.
In terms of capacity among printers, the committee said that UPM-Kymmene and Stora Enso have the greatest capacity for producing supercalendared (SC) paper and coated sheet. For production of fine papers, Sappi leads in terms of capacity, with Stora close behind.
An informal survey of paper manufacturers after the meeting showed a jump in interest in SC paper. Representatives from Great Northern and Abitibi-Consolidate both said that they were putting more emphasis on creating and producing SC grades.