To meet a surging beer demand, Vietnam Brewery Limited in which Asia Pacific Breweries (APB) holds a 60 per cent interest, has commissioned a new bottling line at its brewery in Danang, Vietnam.

Paper industry information provider RISI has acquired UM Paper, a publisher of market prices for the Chinese pulp and paper industry, from Samwell Group, a Chinese paper merchant. The move is expected to deepen RISI's market intelligence offerings on the Chinese market.

Enthusiasm reigned at the inaugural Asia Pacific Dscoop (HP Indigo user group) conference in Seoul, as Indigo founder Benny Landa told the 700 assembled printers that the majority of print would be digital within ten years, and that ten years after that all print would be digital.

More than 300 printers from throughout the Asia Pacific attended an open house at Cyber’s Singapore showroom and training centre, to get their first glimpse of the new Ryobi 756SW-6E with UV coating, casting and foiling system.

Metso will supply a coated cartonboard production line to Lee & Man Paper Manufacturing’s Hongmei mill in Guangdong province, China. The start-up of the new production line is scheduled for the end of 2011.

Japanese beverage giant Asahi is set to buy P&N Beverages Australia, the third largest soft drink company in Australia. The transaction expected to be for A$364m (J¥27.2bn), is subject to regulatory approvals from the Australian Competition and Consumer.

Michelman, a global developer of coatings for flexible film packaging, has introduced Michem Flex P1883, a water-based extrusion primer that provides strong adhesion to aluminum foil and paper and protects foil from corrosion.

Jakarta-based packaging and paper products supplier Sansico Group has commissioned two waterless Genius 52 UV printing machines from KBA-MetroPrint at PT Printec, one of its two production plants in Cikarang.

WAN-IFRA, the world association of newspapers and news publishers, announced at Publish Asia 2010 the launch of the first Asian Digital Media Awards. The Awards aim to distinguish media companies which have adopted digital media as part of their total product offer.

EFI has launched a digital inkjet label printing system with full LED UV curing technology for printing on flexible packaging materials. EFI says its Jetrion 4830LED UV Inkjet System along with a flexible ink set allows printing on unsupported and heat sensitive materials, opening up new opportunities for label converters in the flexible packaging market.