It’s been more than a year since the commercial printing segment is trying to keep itself afloat — barely. So are all the ancillary businesses, including paper. First, there was the Covid-19 pandemic and then the ensuing lockdown. It was followed by the rising paper prices, in all categories. Given the situation, you would expect that the specialty paper market is no exception. However, talk to Sanjay Suneja, managing director, Sona Papers, and he will offer you a much more optimistic outlook.

Of course, like everyone else, the first half of 2020 was difficult for Sona as well. Post-pandemic, the fact that pulp prices have seen a drastic spike and that paper consumption has seen down trend in the last one year, had a clear impact on the market conditions. Sona Papers, the leader in the luxury paper segment, was no exception. Despite this, the company is doing just fine. “But, from August 2020 onwards, things have picked up,” Suneja says. Ironically, however, the reason is the pandemic itself. With the traditional paper market at a standstill, and specialty paper buyers still waiting for the market to improve, Sona has stumbled upon a potentially new and untapped market for fine papers — short-run jobs for individual clients.

Suneja explains. “Initially, we thought, the fine paper market will see a huge dent because while commodity papers like art and maplitho are a need, fine papers are a desire, and when the market is down, luxury products face maximum cost-cutting. Then we discovered that the customers are looking at small quantity print communication instead of mass scale. There is a small but critical market for catalogues, brochures, tags, manuals and other commercial products, where the print buyers want short-run quality products, and they want to use fine paper.”

He says this has been a learning experience as it forced the company to realise that mid-size and small printers are equally important as the big printers, especially for the product range the company caters to. “Printers who are doing short-run jobs are doing well. They are the silent marketers for speciality papers,” he adds.

And the rising paper prices? Suneja says it’s a temporary setback owing to a series of factors, paucity of pulp, delay in shipping (sudden rise in ocean freight) and so on. He says things will improve soon, maybe by the second half of the year. “We are confident enough for double digit growth whenever the market improves,” he adds.

Sona growing
Started in 1966, today, Sona is synonymous with specialty paper, the sole distributor of world’s finest brands of luxury papers in the Indian and overseas market. These include, Gruppo Cordenons premium fine papers from Italy, Arjowiggins creative fine papers from UK, Lenzing 100% recycled papers from Austria, Mont Blanc high bulk fine papers from Hansol, Korea, and Munken Design Range from Arctic Paper SA, Sweden.

The company’s product portfolio includes premium printing papers, premium stationery paper, premium carry bag paper, 100% recycled papers, perfume packaging paper, calendar printing paper, hang tags paper, wedding card paper, embossed invitation paper, and other packaging paper sheets.

To add to this impressive portfolio, in January 2021, Sona launched a new range from the American paper brand, Neenah, which includes 72 product SKUs, including Neenah’s signature brands like Classic, Environment, and Royal Sundance.

“Our association with Neenah is a collaboration to offer environmentally sustainable products by offering recycled and alternative fibre products to our customers,” Suneja explains. “It is our goal to ensure that paper remains a vital and a vibrant medium of expression without compromising the environment protection and with Neenah’s product in our offering, will surely add to the designers delight.”

Sona is the sole agent for Neenah in the Indian sub-continent and the Middle East. “It is a high-priced product.So, it will take time to establish,” Suneja says. But there is hope, as Neenah is the only approved paper in the most International chain of five stars hotels for their stationery, and a couple of garment brands too.

He adds that Neenah is the biggest luxury paper brand in the US with around 65-70% market share. It is doing well in Asia and Africa too.

“We will be adding more brands and products in our fine paper portfolio. If you see, we have added one or two products/brands/geographical reach each year in the last two decades,” Suneja says.

Talking about geographical reach, Sona has scaled up its Dubai operations. “Through Dubai, we are entering into North Africa, in countries like Nigeria and Kenya. We have also started operations in Iraq and Kuwait through dealership. We are well established in Oman, Qatar and Bahrain. During lockdown, we also stepped in KSA (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia) territory through channel network,” he adds.

Back home, the company is improving and expanding its presence as well, in places like Gujarat and Kerala.

Suneja says, the company has a strong presence in the B2B segment and in the near future, it will be exploring theB2C segment through a couple of new products. “Two years down the line, we are planning to establish a corporate office in Noida with better space and approach,” he adds.

The paper business
Coming to the present, Suneja agrees that paper price hike is a real issue. But he believes that this hike is temporary. “I heard that cargo market disruptions are playing havoc on global trade, the recent container crisis due to huge demand in China, has increased the cargo and freight cost phenomenally and has a huge impact on the final cost of the paper ” he says. “As the global economy improves, paper prices will come down automatically.”

He adds that as a representative of brands, Sona is not in a condition to control the prices. “We have to follow the paper manufacturers,” he says, adding, “Price revision is an annual process with our paper manufacturers.”

Rebranding
For Suneja, one of the reasons for Sona’s success is its ability to reinvent itself depending on the market conditions. So, recently Sona started two new projects — Pulp Society and White Aurum.

Pulp Society is a contemporary art gallery and workshop space with a focus on printmaking and experimental work on paper. Through a multifaceted programme of artist residencies, exhibitions, masterclasses and public events, Pulp Society invites artists, graphic designers, curators and researchers to explore the endless possibilities of print and paper. The gallery is looked after by Vrinda Suneja.

White Aurum, on the other hand, is a sister concern that the company started during the lockdown. It is handled by Suneja’s son Raghav. “It is his project,” Suneja says. “He is representing paper mills from Italy, South Korea, Taiwan and other products.”

He adds, “We have gone through the rebranding because of the marketing dynamics. To be in marketing, it has to be something bold, different and modern. And we have received good responses, especially from European paper mills and Indian creative agencies.”

Fine paper is a risky business, and Suneja says Sona wants to offer the best of fine papers to the industry. “We put our money where our mouth is and take risks. Our approach is consultative. We work with creative agencies and designer and offer them paper which can best help visualise the design ideas. So, we are not a regular paper vendor. We call ourselves – paperologists.

In short, in a difficult market, Sona is doing well. “But if you compare it to the last year, we are around 50% behind,” he concludes.