Conference addresses specialty papers.

A conference on specialty papers is planned for May 15-16 in Finland, sponsored by AWA Conferences. The event is designed for all involved in the specialty papers market: pulp and paper producers, chemical and equipment suppliers, converters, distributors, and end users. The event will be held at the Radisson SAS Royal Hotel in Helsinki.

The conference program will provide insight into materials, technologies, and markets, with a focus on today's opportunities, as well as the issues faced by producers across the value chain. The introductory session will set specialty papers in the context of the overall paper market, and will feature the conference keynote speech on trends from Johan Karjaluoto, senior vice president, specialty papers, for UPM-Kymmene. The second session will consider cost benchmarking and pulp and paper pricing and "green" issues. In the remaining sessions, individual speaker topics will include papers for direct thermal print; the future for specialty packaging and label papers; synthetic papers and film materials; high-performance additives for paper coatings; specialty paper making for niche applications; and an assessment of the specialty papers business in South America, with particular reference to Brazil.

The Specialty Paper Industry Conference 2007 has the support of UPM-Kymmene, Fisher International, Intelicoat, Loparex, MD Papeis, and Poyry; as well as industry associations CEPI and PaperPlus.

Details: www.awa-bv.com.