The Development of Specialty Paper in China

According to statistics, in 2010, China's specialty paper industry had 146 large-scale enterprises, representing a year-on-year growth of 2.10%. The total industrial output value reached 32.491 billion yuan, increasing by 38.00% year-on-year. It achieved sales revenue of 31.749 billion yuan, representing a year-on-year growth of 40.71%. The total profit reached 2.153 billion yuan.

In 2010, a powerful earthquake affected 8% of the global supply of commercial pulp and 14% of China's wood pulp imports. Coupled with the strike in Finland, a major papermaking country, this led to a significant increase in international specialty paper prices. The prices of many varieties of specialty paper have exceeded their highs in the past decade. The increase in the price of specialty paper has forced papermaking enterprises to reduce production and tighten inventory.

From 2011 to 2015, the domestic papermaking capacity that was intended to be put into operation reached 46 million tons, with an estimated increase of 11.3 million tons of broadleaf pulp demand and 3.8 million tons of coniferous pulp demand. Between 2010 and 2015, the new production capacity of broadleaf pulp reached 14 million tons, and that of coniferous pulp was 1.5 million tons. However, during 2011 and 2012, not many new wood pulp lines were added, and most of them were put into operation after 2013. Therefore, the general trend of specialty paper prices was upward during 2011-2012.

The high prices of international specialty paper have had a subtle impact on the domestic papermaking industry. Under the pressure of imported raw material costs, companies with a high proportion of self-produced pulp have certain advantages in cost control, while some small and medium-sized papermaking enterprises will be eliminated due to backward production capacity. Therefore, if papermaking enterprises want to survive in the fierce competition, they can consider increasing investment in the pulp industry. This is conducive to cost control and increasing the profits of the enterprise.