He said: "It is difficult to get hold of some paper grades at the moment and we're seeing that a lot of companies are experiencing the same thing.

"I think it's to do with the events in Chile and Finland earlier this year that has put a dent in paper availability and capacity."

He said Victoria Litho has had to cancel an order with one merchant who took an order for folding box board and then could not fulfil it.  

"Not only has our company been let down again by merchants and mills, we had to pay pro forma 100% just over £9,000, as this was our first order for some time, because our account had lapsed."

Vic Rollinson, sales director at web printer Grapho Media, said it too had experienced problems obtaining paper.

Another printer said he was having problems getting three tonnes of paper within anything under six to eight weeks, while a web offset contact said he could not get hold of standard offset reels for August delivery.

It is also rumoured that there is a three-month waiting list for premium grades, including Sappi's Galerie.

A spokeswoman for Sappi revealed demand for the company's Galerie publication grades is "very high at the moment" and the group is "basically sold out".

She said: "However, this does not impact the deliveries to our regular customers. Our demand is recovering strongly, our capacity is running full, and our lead times are currently longer. There is a general sign of business recovery in the whole industry."

She added that the company was no longer affected by the series of unexpected events that took place earlier on in the year.

"The Chilean earthquake never had any impact on our deliveries for mechanical coated papers as all pulp is sourced locally," she said.