A spat has broken out in the paper dotcom world following comments made at the official launch of PaperX.com by chief executive Lars-ke Helgesson.
He told attendees that his company was the first pan-European web-based paper portal - a claim vigorously rebuffed by the managing director PaperExchange.com, Colin Carroll.
"The launch of PaperExchange.com Europe in January of this year made [it] the first pan-European Internet marketplace for the pulp, paper and packaging industry," he said.
The highly competitive nature of the online paper market was further highlighted this week with the announcement on Monday by Accesspapers chief executive Michael Palm that his company had decided not to launch but to sell out to another unnamed industry player.
According to Palm around 80% of paper trading in Europe is via long-term agreements under the control of the manufacturers. The big merchants are also becoming increasingly active on the Internet which is leaving little chance for the independents, believes Palm.
Monday also saw UPM-Kymmene reveal details about its strategy for developing e-commerce. The company, the world's third largest paper and board producer, has handed control of its new online unit to vice-president Jorma Saarikorpi.
"The first obvious area where we can make use of e-commerce is in our own procurement activities [and] to unify the group's existing e-commerce solutions," said Saarikorpi.
The company is also supporting an initiative to develop a common e-commerce standard for the whole European industry - a move being mirrored in the US where leading groups International Paper, Georgia-Pacific and Weyerhaeuser are looking to develop a global e-commerce marketplace.
Story by Anthony Clark