Oc and Stroma in Toronto Globe deal

Oc has secured a deal to print the <i>Toronto Globe and Mail </i>at the remote newspaper printing site at Stroma, the fourth newspaper to go live at the Wembley plant.

Stroma, a subsidiary of the Creative Print Group, began printing German financial daily Brsen-Zeitung and Danish daily Brsen Dagblad last May, followed by Swiss daily Neue Zuricher Zietung (NZZ).

Oc will also begin printing of the Japanese newspaper Asahi at its plant in Johannesburg in June. It prints about 3,000 copies of the Financial Times each day at the South African site, which gives the paper pan-African access, specifically in East Africa.

Oc business development director Paul Krisson said business had slowed down since 11 September, but that the Financial Times contract had put things back on track.

"The next site is likely to be in Sydney and we will make an announcement this summer. But Barcelona and Copenhagen are also of interest," said Krisson.

He is also in talks with The Guardian, The Telegraph and The Times, as well as El Pas, Le Monde and The Wall Street Journal, but could not be specific about in which countries.

Krisson said production costs were "about fives times the amount for producing an offset copy. But when you take into consideration freight, customs clearance and everything else that goes with distribution, it works out about the same per unit."

Story by Rachel Barnes