Today, SwanWhite is the most popular MF-type kraft paper used by European bag manufacturers. This has recently been verified in delivery statistics of the business branch organisation Eurokraft. "Our white kraft paper has succeeded in gaining a market share of 40 percent for machine finished (MF) paper qualities," says product manager Henrik Kass at the Wisapaper paper mill in Pietarsaari, Finland.

According to the manufacturer, the success of SwanWhite is a result of many good properties, which together make the paper the most user-friendly kraft paper in the market place.

This opinion is confirmed by Finnsugar Ltd, the largest manufacturer of sugar in Finland. Part of the international food stuffs group, Danisco A/S, the company utilises SwanWhite in its production of paper bags for granulated sugar.

"For our purposes the decisive factor is the good all-round characteristics of the paper quality," says Erik Lindquist, head of the packing department at Finnsugar. "SwanWhite is suitable for food stuffs, it does not emit smell or taste, it's printability is good and last, but not least, it works well in our packing machine."

Sugar - a demanding raw material

Packaging sugar makes special demands on the packing material. In order to allow residual moisture to evaporate, the kraft paper must be able to breathe and simultaneously stand filling in the packing machine without breaking. Also, high porosity is of importance for strength testing, i.e. the paper bag must stand a fall from an altitude of about one metre without bursting.

"Sugar is a demanding raw material which tends to flow in all directions," says Erik Lindquist. This means, for example, that the paper must be stiff enough to allow loading of bags on to a pallet without losing their shape.

After extensive testing, Finnsugar found that a 90 gram/m2 paper quality is best suited for sugar bags weighing one kilogram. For two kilogram bags, the company uses 110 g/m2 kraft paper.


About the SwanWhite family:

The kraft paper SwanWhite is manufactured in a range of qualities with various characteristics. All qualities have been approved by the German BGA and the American FDA for direct contact to food stuffs.

The basic quality of SwanWhite is used, for example, in sugar and flour bags. For the manufacture of products with still higher demands on printability, for example ice cream cones, the highly calendered paper SwanWhite X with a smooth surface can be used, or SwanWhite Gloss which has a smooth and glossy surface.

Other qualities of the SwanWhite family are SwanWhite Plus, a strong paper which allows lower surface weights in bags manufacturing, and SwanWhite Form, a stiffer and strong paper quality well suited for fast, automatic filling machines.

About the company:

International paper group UPM-Kymmene is one of the largest manufacturers of paper products world-wide. The company employs 31 000 people and has a turnover of 8.3 billion EURO (1999).

Wisapaper paper mill is a unit within UPM Converting, which is the Group's division for refined materials. The unit produces white and brown kraft paper in the surface weight range 60-120 g/m2 to be converted into bags, sacks and industrial paper qualities. The kraft papers are marketed under the trade marks SwanWhite, WisaKraft, WisaForte and WisaBase.

Contact information:

UPM-Kymmene Corporation, Wisapaper
Martin Sweins, Market Communications Manager
P.O. Box 42
FIN-68601 Pietarsaari
FINLAND
Tel. +358-(0)204 16 9436
Fax +358-(0)204 16 8800
E-mail: martin.sweins@upm-kymmene.com

UPM-Kymmene Inc.
Erik Björkenheim
875 N, Michigan Avenue
Suite 3848
Chigaco, IL 60611
U.S.A
Tel. +1 312 642 0720 ext 115
Fax +1 312 642 1968

UPM - KYMMENE Pty Ltd
Cliff Garrett
Suite 2, Level 2
11 Help Street
Chatswood, N.S.W. 2067
AUSTRALIA
Tel. +61 2 9411 3700
Fax +61 2 9411 8228

VIMPEX HANDELSGESELLSCHAFT MBH
Rudolf Maghakian
P.O.Box 148
Kärntnerring 4
A-1015 Vienna
AUSTRIA
Tel. +43 1 501 510
Fax +43 1 501 511
E-mail: rudolf.maghakian@vimpex.at

c/o Embassy of Finland
Tania Dimova
Simeonovsko Shosse N 57, Res 3
1126 Sofia
BULGARIA
Tel. +359 2 962 5347
Fax +359 2 962 5348
E-mail: tdimova@bg400.bg

Misrimpex For Paper Trading Ltd
Magdy Ghobrial
P.O. Box 2531
Kasr El Nil
Cairo
EGYPT
Tel. +20 2 393 3325
Fax +20 2 392 9630

UPM Pack S.A.
Patrice Tassart
66, Cours Charlemagne
P.O. Box 2030
F-69228 LYON CEDEX 02
FRANCE
Tel. +33 4 7256 9070
Fax +33 4 7256 9079

UPM-Pack (H.K.) Limited
Andie Ho
Rm 802 Mega Trade Centre
1-6 Mei Wan Street
Tsuen Wan. N.T.
HONG KONG
Tel. +852 2413 0900
Fax +852 2611 9337

Lewison Company Ltd
Georg Seter
67 Rotschild Boulevard
P.O.Box 131
Tel-Aviv
ISRAEL
Tel. +972 3 629 3485
Fax +972 3 629 1 996

UPM Speciality Papers
Desmond Chew
350 Orchard Road
#18-04 Shaw House
SINGAPORE 238868
Tel. +65 835 0133
Fax +65 835 3881

UPM - Kymmene (Pty) Ltd.
Jouko Tiilikainen
Howard Place 7250
P.O.Box 6
7450 Cape Town
SOUTH AFRICA
Tel. +27 21 507 6920
Fax +27 21 531 1555

Fineks A.S.
Ms Guylay Akkus / Ms Ebru Oguz Misieli
Sasmaz Plaza, Saniye Ermutlu Sok
No. 4/ Kat: 8
81090 Kozyatagi
Istanbul
TURKEY
Tel. +90 216 464 5364
Fax +90 216 464 5363
E-mail: guylayakkus@fineks.com / ebruoguz@fineks.com

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