But of course, price is far from everything. There's no point in driving a hard bargain if no-one wants to buy your product. One of my paper clients uses the term ‘conflict-free fibre' to express this other business driver - many customers and end-users do not want to buy paper from illegally felled timber or unsustainable sources. You don't have to look too hard at some of the new sources of paper before social and environmental alarm bells start ringing.

These questions should be in the forefront of the mind for the very big buyers, but they are also important for the smaller print operator.

The handful of big, established paper companies with traditional bases in the north of the US, Canada and northern Europe have had a rough ride over the past five years and many are also looking further afield for their supply.

New markets
Russia was identified as one alternative source of wood, with truly massive areas of forestry potentially available for commercial forestry and international trade. Although a lot of money has been spent in developing this market, the Russian government has recently introduced new tariffs aimed at preserving value added in the country. This, coupled with the scale of the logistical challenges involved and the challenge of eliminating corrupt business practises, makes the market less attractive.

Facing new competition, the big companies are looking even further afield, particularly in the southern hemisphere.
Recognising that eucalyptus species grow at an enormous rate in warm climates, a lot of effort has been put into the development of new plantations in the southern hemisphere. These plantations are not immune from criticism. I have visited huge and extremely well-run operations in Brazil - created on rainforest land that had previously been cleared for other uses.

FSC, which is the only one of the certification organisations that enjoys broad support from conservation
NGOs, has extended its principles to allow well-managed plantations like these to be certified. So you might think that these developments would be universally welcomed - you would be wrong.

Some opinion leaders remain bitterly opposed to eucalyptus and embargoes on such forest products have started in France, fuelled by a recent film from leading director Luc Besson. One concern is this issue of clear felling rainforest. Another is the ecological footprint of Eucalyptus, which has been caught up in the growing concern over water use in areas where fresh water resources are limited.

The problems are not restricted to the emerging markets. As an example, I was talking to one of the world's biggest buyers of liquid packaging board recently who pointed to developments in the US. There, one of the world's biggest consumer brands has endorsed board certified by one of FSC's competitors. This initiative, aimed at promoting sustainable forestry, has moved one of the biggest environmental NGOs to threaten a major campaign to boycott orange juice packed in the labelled board.

The lack of harmonisation over forest management standards remains a major obstacle and, although FSC has enjoyed relatively strong NGO support, many remain critical of its support for plantations.

So negotiating the political geography of paper sourcing is not going to get any easier. Any serious player in the print or paper industry would be foolhardy to ignore it. In my view, ‘where' your paper comes from is going to remain a big issue for customers and consumers, who will become increasingly aware of the issues.

Mark Line is executive chairman of CSR consultancy Two Tomorrows Group, www.twotomorrows.com