I did a search on this question, but ony came up with a few comments about AZO/Lodima and Amidol, a combination I will probably be trying out soon to see what all the hubbub is about. I guess there's also a Foma contact speed paper out there, but I know nothing about it. Still, no definitive answer to the question, what's the reason for using contact speed paper over 'normal' paper for contact printing? Besides the certain look of Lodima/AZO/Amidol.

I mostly print with Oriental Seagull or Ilford MGIV (FB) and as far as speed goes, I can get just about as long or short exposure times as I want using the enlarger lens aperture, and some time control from the column height too, if I'm contact printing. All of this, of course, depending on the negative.

I saw someone comment on the longer exposure times of slower contact speed paper, but I can pretty easily get a minute or more if I want using the enlarger light source and I can't think why you'd need much more than that. I can typically have time for all my dodging and burning with a base exposure of 20-40 seconds. Is that unusual? What else might someone gain from using contact paper?

Why would I be interested in slower paper, other then for the unique look of something like Lodima (so I hear)?