TISSUE WORLD NICE
Tissue makers upbeat at Tissue World 2009

Going against the trend of global pessimism, the Tissue World 2009 show which was held at the end of March in Nice was a big success, organizers said. Tissue makers and converters, as well as suppliers and exhibitors, all indicated that business is generally holding up quite well, in sharp contrast to many other industries and sectors.

Around 1,500 tissue makers and converters were on hand from 83 countries worldwide to visit the trade show. In addition the Tissue World Conference drew a crowd of 240 delegates. The general mood was very positive at the event, with most tissue makers saying> they are continuing to be profitable. In addition, trade show exhibitors were all very pleased with the quantity and quality of inquiries they were getting about new projects and investments.

The keynote address, held by Jan Johansson, CEO of the global hygiene products supplier SCA, got the meeting off to a good start. Focusing on challenges facing tissue Johansson analyzed the current situation and encouraged out-of-the-box thinking with suggestions about 'How to innovate in a commodity market'. "Differentiation will ultimately be the key to pricing power and the route to long term profitability," he said. Following Johansson the conference heard an upbeat vision of tissue development from Esko Uutela, tissue marketing consultant with RISI. Steady long-term growth in global tissue consumption is expected to continue for the foreseeable future, he said. For the period 2006- 11, it should grow at around 3.8%/yr, rising fractionally to just under 4% in the following five-year period.

Uutela said that growth rates will vary sharply between different parts of the world, however. While Japan, for example, can expect growth of well below 1%/yr and North America will register a little over 1%, Eastern Europe,

China and the Middle East can all expect close to 8%/yr. China will far outpace all other areas in tonnage growth in 2006-16, adding around 4.3 million tons. This is nearly as much as the next three biggest regions combined: Western Europe (1.8 million tons), Latin America (1.7 million tons) and Eastern Europe (1.2 million tons).

Growth rates will be higher in the athome market than in AfH, Uutela said. Growth rates are projected as shown in the table in percent by grade for the period 2006-2016:

While there have been many changes in the industry over the past few years, it is not becoming more concentrated. In 1999, the top four companies supplied 42% of global tissue; by 2009 this had fallen to 38%. Of the global leaders in 1999, only one - SCA - has boosted market share (from 4.8% to 8.8%). No 1 Kimberly-Clark's share has fallen from 17.1% to 13.4%, Fort James (13.1% in 1999) has disappeared, and Procter & Gamble has seen its share decline from 6.8% to 4.6%.

In 2008-09, capacity is expected to grow at 1.4 million tons/yr, which is more than the growth in consumption. As a result, operating rates will remain below 90% for the next coupele of years, Uutela said.

Keith Redway, from University of Westminster, London UK, presented research results from a study on Drying efficiency and hygiene of paper towels with electric hand dryers. The speech had a big impact on the audience, with hundreds of delegates discussing it afterward. The visual impact of the spread of bacteria, including e coli, by jet-air hand dryers throughout restrooms was repulsive. Paper hand towels, Redway said, offered a much better combination drying efficiency and bacteria containment, than either traditional hand dryers or the new jet-air dryers.

Technical Conference

The Tissue World technical conference was well attended with over 200 delegates taking part. Following the keynote speech and management sessions on Monday morning, the technical sessions got underway on Monday afternoon with the Papermaking Developments session. This was highlighted by several good papers, including one on the new textured tissue technology from Metso, as well as an update on the ATMOS technology from Voith and a new technology from A Celli called Memo paper.

The Converting, Wrapping, Packaging and Logistics session covered all of Tuesday morning, with Ashland Hercules giving a good paper about using chemicals to add value on the converting line. Following this, Perini looked at the converting line from a different angle, namely the operators' point of view, while Futura talked about simple and flexible, yet effective embossing technology. Elettric 80 gave an update on the latest automated material handling systems. In addition, TMC and KPL Packaging gave their unique viewpoints about the challenges faced in the packaging area.

Energy Reduction as well as Softness and Surface Treatment were the main topics of Tuesday afternoon, with several good papers being given on each subject. On Wednesday morning the sessions focused on Pulp Technology and Process Control. Kadant had a good paper on kneading technology, while Metsä Tissue spoke about the topic of compression refining. In the Process Control session, there were several high level papers on the advantages that automation and inspection equipment can offer and good examples from tissue mills.

The conference wrapped up in Thursday with the Yankee Dryer Operations session with the top speakers going into details on how to run, analyze and maintain yankee dryers in the optimal manner.

It is of course impossible to summarize a four-day technical conference in a few words but the main feeling from delegates at the conference was that there are lots of good new ideas available to help tissue makers and the Tissue World conference was an excellent venue to hear about many of them in a very compact time frame.

In total, the Tissue World conference included about 50 presentations on management, market, technical and operational issues impacting the business. Participants at the conference included a wide range of positions, from presidents and vice presidents of many of the world's tissue companies to key operating people from tissue making and converting operations around the globe.

Plans are already under way for the next Tissue World event in Nice, which will take place on 28-31 March 2011 at the same venue. For more information, contact Eileen Tan: +65
6592 0890, eileen_tan@cmpasia.com.sg