Recent Asian Pulp and Paper Trend Industry Trends

World production of pulp and paper/board fell to 318.1 million tons for 2001, down from 324 million tons in 2000. Pulp dropped by 7.6 million tons to 179.4 million tons. Even the number of mills shows a decline, mostly on the pulp side. With a few exceptions, most of developed nations' production of pulp, paper, and board declined. Consumption followed the same trend except for tissue. However, consumption in countries such as China, Indonesia, Russia, and South Africa showed strong growth. Paper and board consumption also grew in Eastern Europe, Asia, and Africa overall. The Korean paper industry began to lessen the difficulties caused by over-supply as demand from China started picking up again. The transition from single to double coated production continued in 2001, particularly in export grades. In China, a total of 33,400,000 tons of paper and board was produced in 2001, up 7.5% of 2000 as a wave of new capacity came online. The big news from Taiwanese paper industry in 2001 was that both Taiwan and China finally entered the WTO after 15 years of negotiations. The Indian pulp and paper industry saw another year of impressive growth. ITC Bhadrachalam unveiled plans to invest 300 tons/day of bleached kraft pulp line using a mix of wood and nonwood fibers. In Thailand, the overall consumption of pulp and paper grew by 5%.