Stora Enso's Coated Kraft Back Board (CKB) is gaining a foothold in the US packaging market. Because of tougher competition, American food producers want to reduce packaging costs, while maintaining the high quality of their packs. This situation has given CKB a competitive edge, as its structure allows the use of a 15-20% lower grammage without compromising stiffness properties.

"CKB offers many advantages for the food packaging industry. The board is manufactured in five layers. The middle CTMP layer gives the board excellent stiffness properties, thanks to which the packer can use board of a lower grammage. The top layer is double blade coated, which ensures good printability. In addition, the board is chemically and microbiologically pure and thus suitable for all consumer packs," says CKB Marketing Director Per Fjellström of Stora Enso.
In particular, CKB is gaining a bigger market share in the USA where many food producers are looking for new packaging solutions because of the tougher competition. The packaging solution must be economic and also attract consumers. Therefore good printability is equally important.
For example, Dietz & Watson, a leading meat product processor in the USA, represents this new packaging trend. The company emphasises the excellent hygiene and positive health impact of their products, which exceed the requirements set by USDA and FDA for food producers. The company has operations in Baltimore and Philadelphia, and does not use any fillers, extenders, artificial colour additives or MSG in their products. In this context, the pack must also meet the requirements set for product safety and hygiene.
Recently, the company switched from ordinary CUK board to Stora Enso's CKB board. In addition to product safety and hygiene, high stiffness and board rigidity were significant factors in the choice. Dietz & Watson's new packs also highlight the image presented to the consumer, as CKB allows excellent printing results. The advantage brought by the new packs can be seen on the market; hot dog packs, for example, really stand out on shop shelves.
The packs are manufactured by Nordic Packaging Solutions, who consider printability to be a significant competitive factor.
"It was easy for us to work with the CKB board, as its double blade coated surface ensures excellent printing results with different printing methods. We printed this package using the offset stochastic printing method, which has not previously been used in the USA in similar product packs. It gives greater depth to the images and makes the package stand out better," says Páll E. Pálsson, Sales Director of Nordic Packaging Solutions.

CUK, Coated Unbleached Kraft
FDA, Food and Drug Administration
MSG, Monosodium Glutamate
Stochastic Screens, An arrangement of screened dots that make an image resemble a continuous tone. Dot size remains consistent, but are randomly placed.
USDA, United States Department of Agriculture

Caption:
Dietz & Watson's hot dog sausage pack is made of Stora Enso's CKB board. The board enables good printability and overall cost-effective.

For further information, please contact:
Stora Enso Packaging Boards
Mr Anders Harbäck, Vice President
Skoghall Mill, P.O. Box 501
SE-663 29 Skoghall
Sweden
Tel: +46 54 514045
Fax: +46 54 514392
E-mail: anders.harback@storaenso.com

Stora Enso Belgium
Mr Stefaan Temmerman, Sales Manager
Airport Business Center
Vuurberg 80
B-1831 Machelen (Diegem)
BELGIUM
Tel: +32 2 715 0500
Fax: +32 2 715 0579
E-mail: stefaan.temmerman@storaenso.com

Stora Enso Deutschland GmbH
Mr Horst Fürwentsches, MD
Feldmühleplatz 1
D-40545 Düsseldorf
GERMANY
Tel: +49 211 581 00
Fax: +49 211 581 2175
E-mail: horst.fuerwentsches@storaenso.com

Stora Enso France S.A.
Mr Stellan Sundlof, Sales Director
15/25 boulevard de l'Amiral Bruix
F-75782 Paris Cedex 16
FRANCE
Tel: +33 1 5364 79 00
Fax: +33 1 5364 79 90
E-mail: stellan.sundlof@storaenso.com

Stora Enso (HK) Ltd.
Rm 3605-6 World Trade Centre
Mr YY Liu, Sales Director
280 Gloucester Road
HONG HONG S.A.R.
Tel: +852 2312 1223
Fax: +852 2576 1480
E-mail: yy.liu@storaenso.com

Stora Enso Interamericas, Inc.
Mr Timo Petteri Vuorio
8750 Doral Boulevard
Suite 270
Miami, FL 33178
U.S.A
Tel: +1 305 716 9799
Fax: +1 305 716 5441
E-mail: timo.vuorio@storaenso.com

Stora Enso Italia srl
Mr Renato Somekh
Via A. Volta, 16
I-20093 Cologno Monzese
ITALY
Tel: +39 02 251 514 74
Fax: +39 02 251 514 59
E-mail: renato.somekh@storaenso.com

Stora Enso Nederland b.v.
Mr J.W.Klarenbeek
Postbus 12386
NL-1100 AJ Amsterdam
THE NETHERLANDS
Tel: +31 20 650 5555
Fax: +31 20 650 5622
E-mail: jan-willem.klarenbeek@storaenso.com

Stora Enso North America Corp.
Mr Michael Walsh
Two Landmark Square, 3rd Floor
Stamford, CT 06901-2792
U.S.A
Tel: +1 203 356 2300
Fax: +1 203 356 2343
E-mail: michael.walsh@storaenso.com

Stora Enso Scandinavia AB
Joakim Stockhaus, Sales Director
Box 70395
SE-10724 Stockholm
SWEDEN
Tel: +46 8 613 6600
Fax: +46 8 613 6770
E-mail: joakim.stockhaus@storaenso.com

Stora Enso Singapore Pte Ltd.
Mr Tom Alfthan
360 Orchard Road #11-01 International Building
SG-Singapore 238869
SINGAPORE
Tel: +65 235 3485
Fax: +65 737 4278
E-mail: tom.alfthan@storaenso.com

Stora Enso Southern Africa
Mr Vesa Pärssinen
P.O. Box 12900
N1 City
7463 Cape Town
SOUTH AFRICA
Tel: +27 21 595 0942
Fax: +27 21 595 1688
E-mail: vesa.parssinen@storaenso.com

Stora Enso UK Ltd.
Packaging Boards
Mr Paul Watts, Sales Director
1 Phoenix Place, Phoenix Centre
GB-Nottingham, NG8 6BA
UNITED KINGDOM
Tel: +44 115 964 7100
Fax: +44 115 964 7170
E-mail: paul.watts@storaenso.com

Nordic Packaging Solutions
Páll E. Pálsson, Sales Director
Köllunarklettsvegur 1
104 Reykjavik
ICELAND
Tel: +354 5959 600
Fax: +354 5959 606