Speaking at the National Association of Paper Merchants' annual dinner, the Polestar chief executive responded to competitors who "seem obsessed with my pricing policy".

He said: "No-one can subscribe to the thought that any price is too low, which has connotation that somehow the nasty periodical publishers are giving a naff price to an industry that deserves better.

"There is no such thing as a low price. There is a price which customers are prepared to pay and that we as printers are prepared to print for. That is what sets the price."

He said that the printing industry had to adjust to market dynamics which could not be controlled by suppliers, "or give up the ghost and be a salmon fisherman in Scotland".

Hibbert added: "If the going is tough now, Polestar will pay a one way train ticket to the salmon farm, because it is going to get a whole lot tougher."

Hibbert also gave his view of the European print market, stating that the UK would overtake Germany as the continent's biggest producer of print within five years.

He argued that government should recognise France and Germany's move towards more liberal UK employment conditions.

"The unstoppable trend that Patricia Hewitt is throwing at us to go more and more towards the European employment legislation model is madness, when our other European partners are moving in our direction. We have a competitive edge," he said.

And Hibbert congratulated the BPIF and Amicus GPMS for the recently-agreed Partnership at Work initiative.

NAPM president Henry Cubbon also spoke at the event, which brought together more than 300 paper merchants, manufacturers and guests at London's Hotel Inter Continental.

The Antalis UK managing director called for the merchant sector to work harder at planning for change, saying that "change is accelerating" across the paper supply chain, often in numerous small increments.

It was the merchant's responsibility to plan for changes in the market or face extinction, Cubbon said, citing the falling number of merchants in recent years.

"Of course, some merchants here tonight are doing reasonably well ... but relaxing on the most comfortable deck chair on the Titanic is not a good idea," he added.

Story by Josh Brooks