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| Trend Tracking Seminar 2007 - 3 September 2007 |
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The PRIMA Trend Tracking seminar offered a very stimulating day to professionals in the forest-based industries that gathered in Copenhagen early in September: financial analysts, business planners, market analysts, strategy and marketing people.
Anticipating that it would be the seminar special on carbon footprint creating a lot of heat and energy, delegates were surprised about the number of other big issues on the table that created some gasps and focused attention.
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Structural changes were an important issue on the agenda, amid the production shift that is taking place. Changes in where paper is produced are starting to create fibre shifts and the export of fibre to other places. Financing the shift is something that even the traditional industry has to deal with.
When it came to the role of private equity in the restructuring process, it was interesting to hear that American companies because of their poorer asset base, needed to make some big decisions fast. But without the private equity vehicle, they would not have been able to achieve what they did. It created tremendous liquidity and speed.
There are raw material issues that we have to deal with, in particular in terms of cost, and we also started to pick up the interaction with another environmental issue, i.e. bio energy, which itself is also creating some pressure on wood.
A number of the presentations highlighted the consumers in terms of their behaviour; we seem to have moved on in understanding media and how they affect the business, which has been some mystery over the years. The move towards the consumer also opened up another area: consumers are increasingly intro¬ducing environmental characteristics directly into their purchasing criteria. This is going to have an impact through the chain and the industry right back to the forest. It is evident that a lot of issues that perhaps have previously been passed on down the chain will in future actually have to be dealt with back in the chain at the paper maker or others.
The seminar finished with a very useful and enlightening carbon discussion, which helped understanding of the issue of carbon footprint and also led to the overall feeling that there are other people downstream in the chain, who are going to play a much more direct role in the future of the industry. We need to listen to these people and engage with them directly, which in the end will help our industry.
Everybody agreed that the year 2008 is again going to be a challenging one, but there are also tremendous opportunities out there for people who can anticipate and interpret the changes. There is a whole new industrial revolution developing right now, in which we are going to play a major part.
Agenda & Speakers
Chair & introduction
Robert Wilson, Chairman, Pöyry Forest Industry Consulting
Deal trends & deal drivers and the impact of private equity
Clive Suckling, Director Global Forest Paper & Packaging Industry Practice, Pricewaterhouse Coopers
Economic Outlook
Steinar Juel, Chief Economist, Nordea, Norway
Raw Materials and Resources
David Powlson, Consultant, Pöyry Forest Industry Consulting
Packaging
Graham Moore, Head of Strategic Consultancy; Pira International
Graphic & Publication Papers
Gary Thomson, Senior Market Consultant, EMGE
Office Papers
Harald Blaha, Market Research Manager, Mondi Business Paper
SEMINAR SPECIAL & PANEL DISCUSSION:
CARBON FOOTPRINT - WHICH PATH TO TAKE?
Richard Owers, Sales & Marketing Director, PurePrint Group
Marco Mensink, Energy & Environment Director, CEPI
David Powlson, Consultant, Pöyry Forest Industry Consulting |
More information about the speakers
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Seminar chairman Robert Wilson, Chairman, Pöyry Forest Industry Consulting
Carbon footprint - which path to take? Wilson, Owers, Mensink, Powlson
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