Little Surprise About Demise of Papermakers

There was palpable shock and surprise in the industry at the news that Portals is to wind down production of banknote paper, focusing instead on non-banknote paper and features. But on reflection, perhaps there shouldn’t have been.

Portals is the last standalone independent commercial papermaker – Arjowiggins and Fabriano having gone into liquidation or wound down their activities respectively, and Landqart having been acquired by the Swiss National Bank.

Those private companies that continue to produce banknote paper are now subsidiaries of three out of the four leading commercial banknote printers. The other papermakers are all state-owned; some supply their own central banks only, but an increasing number are also supplying the commercial market too, adding to over-capacity with, inevitably, lower prices for all.