Which paper chemical companies have control of their raw material supply in todays market?

In the latest edition of Paper Money, I was struck by Jim Thompson's comments on being in control of your feedstock and energy sources and how true these comments ring for paper chemical producers. His comments are:

'All the talk is about the high price of energy, but pulp and pulpable wood chips will probably be next on the complaint list. Market pulp is already at high prices. In North America, chips for pulp are now competing with plants making pellets for export to coal-fired power plants, primarily in Europe. These pellets help the power plants meet environmental constraints.

We will soon relearn the lessons of our predecessors: if you want to be in control of your business, start with being in control of your feedstock and energy sources. Decades ago, the Lukes (the family that founded West Virginia Pulp and Paper, later Westvaco, now MeadWestvaco) ran their own coal mines in West Virginia to supply energy to their mills in Covington, Virginia, and Luke, Maryland. They also owned most of the timberlands necessary to supply raw materials to these mills. Looks like a pretty smart strategy now, doesn’t it?'

In these uncertain times, which paper chemical companies are in control of their raw material supply? This is certainly becoming a key question from the paper company purchasing groups when sending out their requests for proposal (RFPs) and is giving some companies a competitive advantage in the current challenging market.

When there are many suppliers and raw materials are in abundance, it is an advantage to be able to shop around, but when supplies become tight and available suppliers few, those companies which are back-integrated have an advantage.