Sappi Europe will increase prices for its Speciality products by €50-70/t, depending on the grade, effective on deliveries as from 1 April 2026. Despite significant internal efficiency programs and cost-saving initiatives, and major restructuring efforts, the combination of persistent cost inflation and continued price erosion has pushed current price levels to an unsustainable point for Sappi.
Holmen is introducing Holmen BOOK Bright, a new, whiter wood-containing book paper that reproduces colours with clarity and intensity. The paper offers a high level of opacity and can help reduce environmental impact across the book market. Holmen has been a renowned supplier of book paper since the early 2000s, delivering a wide-ranging portfolio to make reading as easy and pleasurable as possible. With Holmen BOOK Bright, the company is taking another major step forward in developing sustainable, high-performance materials for modern book production.
The 4evergreen alliance has published major updates to two cornerstone documents in its Technical Toolbox, supporting Europe’s transition to high-performance recycling systems under the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR). Terminology and definitions have been revised to reflect the latest PPWR and CEN developments, ensuring full technical consistency with emerging standardisation parameters. The scope of 4evergreen remains unchanged; these updates are strictly linguistic and standardisation-driven. For example, certain descriptors are being aligned from “fibre-based” to the more technically precise and CEN-conformant “paper-based” terminology.
Dr. David Schmedding, Chief Technology & Sales Officer at Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG (Heidelberg), visited the key market of India on a trip lasting several days. His meetings with numerous customers and partners during this visit provided impressive proof of India’s strategic importance for Heidelberg – especially in the areas of packaging and printing.
Hubergroup Chemicals is expanding its portfolio with a new brand of high-performance additives: ELARA. The launch marks a significant step in the company’s evolution from a supplier of printing ink raw materials to a comprehensive partner for the coatings, inks, and adhesives industries. ELARA will make its official debut at Paint India 2026 in Mumbai, as a clearly structured additive portfolio supporting formulators in facing today’s complex technical and regulatory challenges.
Following an extended period of downward pressure, label paper prices have reached unsustainable levels. In the face of continued cost increases, Sappi Europe, producer of Label papers, announces 8% to 10% price increases for the Parade range of label papers including, non-wet strength and wet strength Wet Glue Label papers and Self-Adhesive Face papers, effective 1 April 2026.
The Navigator Company has decided to increase prices across its gKraft paper range by 5% to 10% depending on market and segments. The increase will apply to the entire portfolio of bleached and unbleached kraft papers and will be effective for all shipments starting April 1, 2026.
Hoenle’s Business Unit Curing will present its curing and drying systems at Gulf Print & Pack 2026 in Dubai. As a development and solution partner for the printing and packaging industry, the German UV Technology specialist Hoenle will showcase its latest innovative and smart curing systems alongside coating solutions expert Mondula from Switzerland.
On 16 January 2026, Agfa announced that it had received the final report of the independent expert regarding the outstanding receivable under the share purchase agreement for the sale of Agfa’s Offset Solutions division. Further to this report, the payment of the price adjustment amount of 14.7 million euro (in respect of the disputed part) and the payment of 5.2 million euro (in respect of the undisputed part), in total 19.9 million euro, became due to Agfa on 6 February 2026.
Toyo Ink India Pvt. Ltd., a member of Japan’s artience Group, announced the inauguration of artience Technology and Innovation Centre – India (aTIC-India) at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru. This marks the Group’s first Research Centre outside Japan and a significant milestone in strengthening India’s role in advanced research, manufacturing, and sustainable innovation. A ceremony to mark the occasion was held on 4 February 2026 on-site of the new centre at the IISc campus.
The new design compact B2 digital sheet cutter and creaser is the latest addition to Plockmatic Group’s ColorCut SC7000 series. Its unique triple tool cutter/creaser incorporates a revolutionary, patent-pending, tangential creasing tool, with male (convex) and female (concave) elements to ensure superior double-sided creasing. With pressing and moulding tools that move above and below the sheet simultaneously, ‘formed’ creases are created similar to a metal rule platen machine.
After nine months of financial year 2025/26 (April 1 to December 31, 2025), developments at Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG (Heidelberg) are in line with expectations. The company has achieved a considerable improvement in its profitability and is also resolutely pressing ahead with its strategic transformation, moving into new areas of business that are enjoying strong growth. Notwithstanding the challenging environment, sales after three quarters climbed to € 1,602 million – some 6.1 percent higher than the previous year’s figure of € 1,509 million – despite negative exchange rate effects amounting to around € 44 million compared with the equivalent period of the previous year.