Being in the data center business we don't mind the decline of print. But, the pulp and paper industry is going through some serious changes as the decline of print is faster than the rise. Seattletimes has an article from the minneapolis star on the print industry.
As society sheds paper, an industry shrinks
The North American paper industry is in rapid decline. Towns from Washington to the coast of Maine have lost more than a hundred paper mills in a wave of consolidation in little more than a decade — a trend most people in the industry expect to continue.
Minneapolis Star Tribune
How much is the change? 100 paper mills and 21% decline over 10 years.
“It’s kind of disheartening,” said Jim Skurla, an economist at the University of Minnesota, Duluth. “Paper’s never going to disappear, but it’s going to be smaller than it has been.”
River towns in the forest from Washington to the coast of Maine have lost more than a hundred paper mills in a wave of consolidation in little more than a decade — a trend most people in the industry expect to continue.
North American demand for three types of coated and supercalendered paper — shiny magazine and advertising paper — has fallen 21 percent in the past decade, according to the Pulp and Paper Products Council.
There is not enough demand out there and some mills have to shut down.
“All you’re doing is you’re moving around the mills,” Quinn said.
“The reality is the demand is going down. Some mills are going to have to come out.”