Robert Horne and Howard Smith Paper have stopped trading with Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) after Friends of the Earth (FoE) attacked APPs forest sustainability methods.


A spokesman from the Buhrmann Group confirmed that along with Robert Horne and Howard Smith Paper, all Buhrmann subsidiary companies have been instructed to cease trading with APP.


Paper Tiger, Hidden Dragons, the 68pp FoE report, looked at APPs forestry methods and said it may have distorted the global market through low prices.
It also said that by offering paper products at such low cost, APP may have lowered world prices and contributed to its mounting debt problem.


The report coincided with an article in The Guardian last week that traced paper from Indonesia to trade
customers and public-sector users.
APPs European director, Bobby Chi, told PrintWeek the allegations were nonsense, that the group planted more trees than it chopped down, and bought forests with the approval of the Indonesian government.


Chi said it gave written answers to The Guardian that were not used. He would not comment on possible legal action against The Guardian or FoE until a statement issued this week.


Karen Smillie, group head of marketing at Howard Smith Paper, said: When we heard about The Guardian article we ceased trading with APP.


Story by Jez Abbott