Pap'Argus published its latest issue 2023 at the end of the year. If you would like to read it or subscribe, please contact Sylvie Hubert, s.hubert@mpmedias.com. The lates issue features the press printer Riccobono, which is surfing a consolidation wave to chart its course in Europe. You can also read an overall retrospective on the major economic moments of the paper industry in 2023. And of course, there is always the Price Watch. Enjoy!

The entire Pap'Argus team wishes you an excellent 2024 and hopes to see you at many of the MP Medias group’s 2024 events. The next one is the Etiq&Pack Conference on Flexible Packaging which will be held on January 25th, 2024 in Paris, followed the Liquid & Packaging Conference on February 20th, 2024 in Paris, the Digital Label Forum on March 21st, 2024 in Paris, and ‘La Nuit du Papier’ on April 4th, 2024.

The risk of mergers in the publishing world is more and more obvious. That is why the European Commission has imposed certain measures on Vivendi to authorize its acquisition of the Lagardère group and Hachette Livre at the same time. Book sales also showed this trend. According to the Edistat report, only 19 publishing houses published 80% of the best-sellers of the beginning of the year. Hachette has nearly 30% of these titles. This is why authors want a legal framework that allows them to maintain their independence. They are looking for something like the French journalist's independence clause (clause de conscience in French). The subject will be widely discussed at the États généraux de l'information which will be held at the end of September. Conclusions will be delivered by summer 2024. To be continued!

Good news for the industry, paper is still popular with European consumers. In fact, the European preference for paper and print has rebounded significantly since the end of the pandemic. This was proven by the biennial Trend Tracker survey conducted by the Toluna Institute for Two Sides! Today, 65% of respondents say they prefer to turn the pages of a book (compared to 53% in 2021). What about magazines? They are also more popular, with 51% of people answering positively, compared to 35% two years ago. The same positive trend seems true for newspapers and catalogues. Time to hit the bookstores and the newsstands!

The Paris Book Festival was held at the Grand Palais “Ephémère” near the Eiffel Tower. Italy was the guest of honor at this year’s edition. According to the organizers, more than 90,000 books sold in three days, up 32% on 2022. ‘Under-25’ visitors represented nearly 50% of the total visitors. (Entry was free for that age category). The next Paris Book festival will be held from April 12th to 14th, 2024.

PPW (Paris Packaging Week) visitors to the ADF-PCD-PLD shows, were the first to have had it, but you can too, if you read French!  There is a pdf version available. This issue is dedicated to the ways in which luxury has taken into account environmental issues, not only in the materials it implements, in its marketing, but also in terms of packaging. In the table of contents of this new Premium&Luxe edition, there is an article on Kurz, leader of the embellishment industry, and their sustainable choices, an interview with Géraldine Poivert, (RE)SET ‘s president and co-founder,  and a feature on the ten new commandments of the beauty packaging and a VIP interview with Elie Papiernik, head of the international agency created, Centdegrés. To get your own free pdf issue, contact Sylvie Hubert, s.hubert@mpmedias.com.

For the first time in France, professional and employee unions, in coordination with Culture Papier led by Guillaume Le Jeune, are meeting to defend ‘Le Futur de l'industrie papetière et graphique en France’ (The future of the paper and print industry in France). They published a white paper promoting the future of print media as an indispensable tool for democracy. More than twenty players in the printing industry endorsed this white paper. The group proposes concrete actions to highlight the advantages of print produced from renewable and recyclable natural resources and show how they are interconnected with all major social and democratic issues. It comes from the perspective that print and digital must coexist more efficiently while also considering the environmental, democratic and social aspects.

Every year the Prime Minister has a different cause, this year it is reading that has caught his eye. The good news is that the Paris Book Festival will take place this year. In fact, the 2022 Paris Book Festival shows that the event is still important even 41 years after it was created. It will now be under SNE management, chaired by Vincent Montagne and it will no longer be held in the Porte de Versailles. While the event will be mainly held at the “Grand Palais éphémère”, it will also take over other Parisian venues such as the Petit Palais, the Maison de la Poésie, the Sorbonne, the Panthéon, the Military School, the Académie du Climat and the Guimet Museum. It has also become a free event. However, you will need to book a ticket online, as no more than 5,500 visitors will be allowed.

Supply challenges continue even in Finland!  This is due not only to the prolonged strike in the UPM Finnish mills, but also due to the war in Ukraine. Finnish newspaper publishers said they were expecting the paper shortage to worsen, adding that newspaper production could be difficult this spring. Finland is estimated to get around 20,000 tonnes/year of newsprint in Russia.

If you were wondering whether printed press is still important, here is some proof! The cryptocurrency platform Binance has invested $200 million in the American magazine Forbes, famous for its ranking of the greatest fortunes. Thanks to this investment, the magazine must go public in the first quarter. In a statement released at the same time as the announcement, Binance’s founder, Changpeng "CZ" Zhao, said the media was an essential element in strengthening consumers' understanding of cryptocurrencies and digital assets.

Founded in 2000, Bragelonne became the # 1 independent publisher of imaginary literature in just ten years. It is the 25th editorial group in France with a turnover of 15.4 million euros and about fifty employees. The company is writing a new chapter in its history by joining the #1 French publishing group, Hachette Livre. Bragelonne was a pioneer in France to discover different literary genres by offering content but also innovative formats. They started of only one genre, there are now  seven as diverse as the imaginary, comic books  and young adult.  In 2019, the Bragelonne Group  developed a board game business with its subsidiary Bragelonne Games. With a catalog of 4,000 titles, Bragelonne publishes more than 600 authors, bringing together the greatest names in fantasy and science fiction. Bragelonne is the French publisher for the world-famous Polish series The Witcher, by Andrzej Sapkowski, which is also published by Hachette Books in English-speaking countries. With this latest acquisition, Hachette Livre strengthens its position in this very dynamic segment. The Hachette Live Group, a subsidiary of Lagardère SCA, is the world’s third largest consumer publishing group (trade and education). With revenues of €2,375 million for 2020, it is # 1 in France, # 2 in Great Britain, #3 in Spain and # 4 in the USA.

Books and newspapers deserve specific taxation due to their social, cultural and economic value along with their contribution to education and citizenship. That is what the ECOFIN Council confirmed : not only does the Council’s agreement keep the books and newspapers on the list of articles where reduced rates may apply, but it places them in the group that may benefit from super-low or zero rates. This move was welcomed by the European Publishers Federation. “We hope that all European countries will seize this opportunity and adjust the tax system for books and newspapers in all formats or, why not, improve their current system,” said Peter Kraus vom Cleff, the Federation’s President.  For your information, the super-reduced rate is fixed at 2.1% and the reduced rate is at 5.5%. The latter is the rate applied in France on both printed and digital books.