Nippon Paper loses key clients

Fuji Xerox Co. said Thursday it will stop selling recycled copy and printer paper made by Nippon Paper Group Inc. following revelations that the paper mill lied about the content of used paper in its products.

Masatomo Nakamura, president of Nippon Paper Group Inc., faces reporters Wednesday in Tokyo. KYODO PHOTO

The decision takes effect immediately, a Fuji Xerox official said.

Canon Marketing Japan Inc., Konica Minolta Holdings Inc. and Ricoh Co., which also handle duplicating machines and copy and printer paper, decided to follow suit.

Nippon Paper said Wednesday it had sold recycled paper products containing smaller-than-claimed amounts of used paper.

Among paper products subject to the law requiring the central and local governments to take into account environmental protection when making purchases, the actual ratio of waste paper used by Nippon Paper was 59 percent for copy paper, compared with the company's claim of 100 percent, 35 percent for notebook paper, against 80 percent, and 50 percent for printing paper, against 70 percent.

Fuji Xerox and other companies, which have kicked off internal investigations, are set to stop selling recycled copy and printer paper made by other mills besides Nippon Paper, if they are also found to have lied about the used paper content.

According to Japan Post Holdings Co., Nippon Paper as well as four other leading paper mills — Oji Paper Co., Daio Paper Corp., Mitsubishi Paper Mills Ltd. and Hokuetsu Paper Mills Ltd. — committed the action in producing New Year's greeting cards.

To take the blame for the scandal, Nippon Paper President Masatomo Nakamura offered Wednesday to resign at a yet to be decided date.

"I'm prepared to resign although I can't say when," Masatomo Nakamura said at a news conference Wednesday.

Nippon Paper started cheating on the ratios in 1992 with summer greeting cards.

Nakamura said the company falsified the used paper ratios to make the products look more environmentally friendly. He said it was difficult to actually raise the old paper ratios because that would have hurt product quality.