(Weymouth, MA) January 6, 2010…According to InfoTrends’ North American Cut Size Survey, coated and digital papers will show the strongest growth amongst cut size paper grades through 2014. Coated papers will grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 24.3% to reach 106 tons in 2014 and digital papers will grow 9.8% to 592 tons in 2014.

“This statistic is not surprising when considering the hardware and application trends that are driving the printing market,” commented Norman McLeod a Director at InfoTrends. “The growth area is color digital printing, and the use of more color printing and more color applications (such as marketing materials) will drive the demand for coated paper as well as digital-optimized uncoated sheets.”

As a result of the increased demand for color printing and color printing applications, there is also a shift toward higher brightness levels. The 90-93.5 level accounts for the most tons of paper produced over the forecast period. However, the rate of growth for this category will slow and show a CAGR or -1.5% by 2014. In contrast, the 98 and above level will show the strongest growth rates with a 15.8% CAGR.

The same trends that are driving higher brightness and higher consumption of coated and digital papers will also drive shifts toward heavier average basis weights. Heavier paper weights will be necessary to produce marketing materials such as brochures, annual reports, menus, covers, flyers, direct mail and postcards.

McLeod continued, “Paper mills should pay close attention to the activities in the hardware market as changes can have direct impact on paper products and characteristics.”

In addition to revealing cut size data related to paper grade, brightness and basis weight, InfoTrends study also includes data pertaining to recycled content, brand, sheet size, packaging, and sales channel. InfoTrends conducts this survey to assess U.S. cut size paper production, product ranges, and other key metrics.  The survey participants are U.S.-based companies that produce cut size papers for the domestic and international markets for the home, office, and production print segments. The survey results help gauge industry trends and measure market share across several data categories. The report contains historical U.S. cut size data from 1999-2008 and a forecast for 2009-2014.

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