GBIG NEWS PAPER UPDATE CRISIS FOR WISCONSIN 5P and the Converting Industries!
The total U.S. Printing-Writing Paper Shipments increased 3 percent in January 2022, and we anticipate the demand growing over the next quarter. Simply, the U.S. paper mills can’t provide the paper, and the foreign paper mills are on strike or choose not to ship paper to the USA.
The printing paper mills’ response is shutting down production, due to the decline in printing paper markets or converting paper machines to packaging papers! No, the real answer is to maximize PROFIT without supporting their customer base!
The paper industry for printing papers has created its own problem over the years with low pricing for its products and lack of investment into its paper mills. Wisconsin has lost ownership of its valuable resource for paper production, along with shutting down capacity.
We need to support the remaining paper mills in Wisconsin with incentives to reinvest in Wisconsin. Wisconsin’s top economic development official recently renegotiated a $2.85 billion incentive package with Foxconn down to $80 million, and we forget that paper built Wisconsin. Thank you, Missy Hughes, of WEDC!
The Wisconsin 5P and Converting industries have a huge demand for these papers, and it is vital for their survival. Wisconsin needs to support these industries with an estimated 98,000 employees with many other industries supporting the 5P and Converting Industries.
Unfortunately, the remaining USA Paper Companies are looking short term, and the demand for printing paper has allowed them to increase prices and put end users on allotments to maximize their profits. However, this short-term effect will force consumers to move more to a digital platform away from using paper. We have seen over 2,000 newspapers close down in 15 years and more and more publishers are going to digital editions for their publications. Why would trade Printing and Packaging Publications cease the production of printed editions?
