Marred by what the European Commission deemed “fiscal and macroeconomic imbalances built up over the decade,” many financial analysts say the euro is in trouble. Countries such as Ireland, Spain and Italy have all been marked by high debt levels and threats of recession, particularly in the last three to four years.

As recently as this week, Greece announced it would be looking for bailout money to the tune of 130 billion euros. “The bail-out agreement needs to be signed,” said government spokesman Pantelis Kapsis told Greek television outlets. “Otherwise, we will be out of the markets, out of the euro.”

However, if countries such as Greece attempt to discard the euro and return to their original national currency, this is not a process that can take place overnight. In fact, experts in the banknote industry say it will take a minimum of one year before any particular countries can revert to another currency.

Before banknotes can be processed, they have to be designed, developed and equipped with security features to prevent counterfeiting. These elements must be assembled before being shipped to the paper maker, which can take three to four months. After that, the notes are sent to the security printer who must undergo at least six to eight different processes to get the notes ready for circulation.

“When we look at the eurozone it is very challenging to contemplate the logistics behind that,” Chad Wasilenkoff, CEO of Fortress Paper – a company that manufactures banknotes – told BNN in December. “It could be easier if one country such as Greece were to fall off, but if the whole thing were to come crumbling down it’s just not logistically possible.”

Despite the length, an article published by RT.com last month said central banks throughout Europe are preparing contingency plans evaluating their needs for additional printing capacity should the euro come to an end.

SOURCES:
The Malta Independent: “Little To Celebrate As Eurozone Marks 10-Year Anniversary”
RT.com: “Highway To Hell? Greece Barrels Toward Euro Exit”
RT.com: “Plan B: Printing Presses on Standby To Beat Euro’s Demise”
The Globe and Mail: “Video: Can Printing New Currencies Keep Euro Zone United?”

According to an article published by RT.com, central banks throughout Europe are preparing contingency plans evaluating their needs for additional printing capacity should the euro – a singular currency shared by seventeen countries – come to an end.

The Central Bank of Ireland, for example, is assessing the capacity of their banknote facilities where they currently manufacture new euro bills. Last year, Ireland printed 127.5 million 10-euro notes.

“The bank’s printing capacities may not meet demand should the country need to come up with a hasty replacement for the euro,” RT.com said. “Officials are discussing reactivating old printers or
enlisting a private contractor to do the job”

Last week, in a segment that aired on PRI’s The World, banknote manufacturers and economists also said the industry could see some increased businesses if the euro collapses.

But it’s not all good news. A source from the Bank of England told the Wall Street Journal they were “concerned that if the eurozone unravels, the plant would be overwhelmed with orders and would not be able to print pounds. Britain is reportedly considering steps to ensure that such contingency would not cause damage to the UK’s own interests.”

Among other countries, Switzerland, Montenegro, Bosnia and Latvia are all beginning to look at post-euro plans should the currency bloc fail. To do that, RT reports, “they are now casting around for a new reference point – probably the German mark.”

SOURCES:
RT.com: “Plan B: Printing Presses on Standby To Beat Euro’s Demise”
PRI’s The World: “Making Money by Making Money”

Wasilenkoff said that even though countries may pull out of the eurozone and revert back to their old currency, that process is lengthy and cannot happen overnight.

“Typically a national bank will take anywhere from three to four years to develop a new currency to be able to push it out into circulation in a normalized fashion,” he said Tuesday.

Before banknotes can be processed, they have to be designed, developed and equipped with security features to prevent counterfeiting. These elements must be assembled before being shipped to the paper maker, which can take three to four months. After that, the notes are sent to the security printer who must undergo at least six to eight different processes to get the notes ready for circulation.

Even in the case of a crisis, the minimum time frame to introduce new banknotes into circulation is close to a year. This is the biggest challenge countries face with regards to re-introducing country-based banknotes as opposed to the multi-country unified currency of the euro, said Wasilenkoff.

“When we look at the eurozone it is very challenging to contemplate the logistics behind that,” he said. “It could be easier if one country such as Greece were to fall off, but if the whole thing were to come crumbling down it’s just not logistically possible.”

Currently in the eurozone there is close to 15 billion individual euro banknotes in circulation right now, valued at nearly 875 billion. This represents about 30% of the total global supply of banknotes, Wasilenkoff said.

Watch the whole video HERE.

SOURCE:
The Globe and Mail: “Video: Can Printing New Currencies Keep Euro Zone United”

This week, Jason Margolis, host of The World on Public Radio International (PRI), caught up with some of these manufacturers who echo the sentiment, saying “there’s still a need for cold, hard cash.”

At a mill in Dalton, MA, Crane & Co. produces about 18 million pounds of paper per year for the US Bureau of Engraving and Printing. Doug Crane, owner of the family-owned business that has been producing banknotes since the US revolution, says it’s a good time to be in the currency business.

“The demand sort of ebbs and flows, and certainly there’s been a stronger demand on currency and on certain denominations in particular since the economic uncertainty has really spread across the world,” he tells PRI.

Chad Wasilenkoff, CEO of the Vancouver-based specialty paper manufacturer Fortress Paper, agrees with Crane’s assessment. Fortress Paper produces banknotes for many countries, but one of their most notable clients in the country of Switzerland for whom they produce the Swiss Franc. Wasilenkoff says the instability of world markets is driving business.

“People are reluctant to keep as much money in the banks, and they’re pulling it out and going back to the old form of sticking it under the mattress,” he says. “With the global crisis going on, these printing presses are running fast and furious around the world, so it’s very robust times there.”

And it’s not just banknote producers that say cash is as popular as ever. In the PRI piece, Michael Walden, an economist at North Carolina State University, tells Margolis says in times of crisis people turn to cold, hard cash for security.

“I think people in these times like to simply have more cash on hand. I think that just fulfils a basic primal need we have when there is heightened financial fear,” he says.

The economic situation in Europe could also prove to pay off for banknote producers. If the eurozone collapses, countries could once again revert to their old currencies and re-create their reserves.

“Demand for bank notes would definitely go up,” Wasilenkoff says.

SOURCE:
PRI’s The World: “Making Money by Making Money”

In part three of the Globe and Mail’s Small Business Editor Katherine Scarrow’s feature video interview with Fortress Paper CEO Chad Wasilenkoff, where she called Chad Wasilenkoff, Fortress Paper a “born entrepreneur”.

Fortress Paper CEO Chad Wasilenkoff discusses growing up an entrepreneur, and why he’s always looking for a good deal in part 3 of Talking to Entrepreneurs

To watch part three of ‘Talking to Entrepreneurs’ please click HERE.

Watch Other Videos In The Series:

Part 1: ‘Fortress Paper chief turns tired mill into major venture.’ Watch video HERE
Part 3: ‘Entrepreneurial paper chief explains contrarian investing strategy’. Watch video HERE

Globe & Mail Small Business Week Interview Featuring Fortress Paper (Part 2)

In the series the Globe and Mail’s Small Business Editor Katherine Scarrow sits down with Fortress Paper CEO Chad Wasilenkoff to discuss various aspects of his company.

Speaking about his nature as a self-proclaimed “contrarian investor,” Wasilenkoff presents a snapshot of
Fortress Paper’s inception in a time of unprecedented decline in the forestry sector.

“In troubling times like that, there’s always going to be some interesting mill, some interesting product, and somebody has to have something unique, so you just have to pick out those hidden gems,” he says in the interview.

Watch the entire video HERE.

SOURCE:
The Globe And Mail: “Fortress Paper Chief Turns Turns Tired Mill Into Major Venture”

In a video featured in the BBC’s Business section, Marco Ziethen, the production manager at Landquart, takes reporter Lucy Burton through a step-by-step guide to manufacturing banknotes. From importing, refining and bleaching cotton, Ziethen showed how cotton gets turned into currency. Ziethen also explained how, as the paper is being made, security features are embedded in order to prevent counterfeiting of whatever currency is being produced.

The Landquart facility produces an astonishing number of banknotes each day, said the BBC.

“Each pallet has 18,000 sheets of paper on it. Each sheet will eventually be cut into 54 notes. That is an impressive 972,000 notes on each pallet. The mill runs 24 hours a day and it takes half an hour to make a pallet. So, overall, the mill can turn out around 46,656,000 notes per day,” Burton wrote. “If they are making 500-euro notes that day, the amount of money passing through these doors is simply mind-boggling.”

Vancouver-based Fortress Paper Ltd., has made significant strides in production since they began running the Swiss mill, going from “producing less than 1,000 tonnes of paper per year to 10,000 tonnes per year,” according to the BBC article.

Getting to this point, however hasn’t been easy. In another video posted on their site, Fortress Paper CEO Chad Wasilenkoff said the business provided some initial challenges.

“The banknote and passport industry is a very closed group of people,” he said. “A lot of the companies that are operating in this space have been operating since the 1500s or 1600s so we’re a fairly new entry into this.”

Getting reference orders and new contracts with national banks can be challenging, said Wasilenkoff, but Fortress has made some impressive in-roads acquiring large contracts with countries such as Switzerland to produce the Swiss franc – considered to be an industry standard in security.

In addition to these contracts, the banknote industry is one that is perpetually in flux. As technologies change, national banks have to keep updating security features on their banknotes to curb counterfeiting.

“Fortress hopes that the Landquart mill can help banks to ‘stay ahead of the curve’ and of course – make some money in the process,” Burton wrote.

Read the full BBC article and watch the videos HERE.

SOURCE:
BBC News: “How To Make Money From Making Money”

Yawning all the way to the bank

While the pulp sector may appear quiet, the market players are “yawning” all the way to the bank. “Between 2002 and 2006, world exports of wood, pulp and paper products grew at an average annual rate of 10.6%,” reports Global-production.com Inc., a business economics consultancy. Despite the volatile economy, the upward price trend in market pulp continues across the world.

“The fundamentals of the pulp market continue to be very strong,” reports PulpWatch, a leading provider of business information and consultancy services to the international pulp and paper industry. “Pulp prices increased by $30-50/t in May, and are set to reach new records in Europe and North America in June. Producer inventories reached record lows in April, and consumer warehouses are similarly bare. European paper demand and order books have improved and prices for most grades are moving upwards, albeit at a slower pace than fiber prices.” This is currently a temporary cyclical high, but we will be getting out of this old product in approximately one year.

As a contrarian investor, I keep focused on industries widely considered to be depressed with an eye on purchasing world class assets at deeply discounted prices. My company recently paid $1.2 million to Fraser Papers for a facility in Quebec with an insured replacement cost of $851 million in assets. We are converting this operation into a specialty dissolving pulp operation. Dissolving wood pulp is chemically refined bleached pulp composed of pure cellulose fibers extracted from trees. Dissolving pulp is the major source for the natural cellulose used in the production of rayon.

Rayon – a very promising future

I believe rayon demand is at a tipping point around the world. The declining global production of cotton is insufficient to meet global textile industry demand; particularly with the rapidly expanding middle class in China and India. Industry analysts indicate that the rayon market has grown at 7% globally and over 10% in China for the last 5 years. Rayon is typically blended with other fibers and can logically displace the cotton shortfall. Rayon has high uniformity which leads to significant improvements in productivity in spinning and textile plants.

Rayon demand has revealed a gap in supply. Total dissolving pulp capacity in late 2007 was 2.4 million tonnes according to the CCF Group (China Chemical Fibers & Textiles Consultancy). Expansions and conversions with plants in Brazil, South Africa and Canada added 0.6 million tonnes of dissolving pulp capacity in 2008, but closures of many higher cost dissolving mills resulted in limited capacity to fill the increasing demand.

A specialty producer

Driven by overall textile demand and increasing preference for rayon over cotton, over one million tonnes of additional rayon capacity (dissolving pulp customers) was built in China in 2009 and an additional 0.5 to 0.7 million tonnes in China is planned to start-up in 2010. There is a current shortfall of approximately 0.5 million tonnes in annual rayon supply which is expected to continue during the next several years.

Rayon, derived from wood pulp, is a textile made from cellulose whose future is looking very promising which is why we sought to invest in this sector. With our Quebec facility, we are transforming an asset which was previously underutilizing its potential by operating as a high cost producer into a specialty product producer which is low-cost and globally competitive. Over 90% of the existing mill equipment is ideally suited to produce high quality specialty cellulose for the rayon textile industry.

The consumer advantages of rayon are clear as it is woven into soft, absorbent and comfortable fabric which supports vibrant colors and wears well. Rayon is one of the most widely used fabrics in the world which can be blended with man-made or natural fabrics. For many centuries, people have relied on plants and animals, such as silkworms, sheep and buffalo, to provide the materials needed for clothing. In our 21st century world, we look to technology and chemistry to create our fabrics. Rayon, dubbed “laboratory’s first gift to the loom” is widely considered to be one of the most versatile and economical man-made fibers available.

–Chadwick Wasilenkoff, Chairman & CEO of Fortress Paper Ltd.

SOURCE:
RISI: “Pulp Growth Ain’t Pulp Fiction – Embracing New Opportunities”

The agreement provides for a purchase price of Euro 3 Million (CAD $3.8Million) and includes the purchase and delivery of a complete displacement cooking plant consisting of 3 batch digesters, liquor accumulators and various associated specialty process equipment and piping.

Chad Wasilenkoff Chief Executive Officer of Fortress Paper, commented: “After spending a considerable amount of time assessing and evaluating the equipment, we are very pleased to be able to secure this equipment. This equipment has operated for only 12 years and we are confident of its quality and performance, which should result in a material reduction in our overall capital investment requirements for the conversion to dissolving pulp. We also believe that by acquiring almost an entire batch cooking system, we reduce the process risk for this transformation. At this time it is still too early to determine the impact this new equipment will have on the completion date.”

About Fortress Paper

Fortress Paper is a leading international producer of security and other specialty papers and products. Fortress Paper operates three mills, the Landqart Mill located in Switzerland, the Dresden Mill located in Germany and the Fortress Specialty Cellulose Mill located in Quebec, Canada. Fortress Paper’s security papers include banknote, passport and visa papers and its specialty papers include non-woven wallpaper base products, and graphic and technical papers. Fortress Paper’s pulp business will include NBHK with the re-start of the Fortress Specialty Cellulose Mill with plans to convert this capacity into dissolving pulp production along with the construction of a biomass based cogeneration plant.