|
|
 |
Home  Indian Paper Industry Issues and Concerns |
 |
|
 |
| |
The Indian paper and paperboards industry has potential and also capabilities to service the growing demand in domestic and international market and also to create huge employment avenues in the rural-India through agro/production � forestry and at mills, provided the competitiveness of the value chain is encouraged by the government. |
|
| |
|
|
| |
Major Deterrent – Fibre Deficiency
Wood: India�s wood resources are limited therefore, cost of wood is much higher in global comparison. Since there is conspicuous absence of Government�s enabling policies favouring industrial/production plantation, securing future wood supplies will be Industry�s biggest challenge. Wood based segment of the paper industry meets its current wood requirements mainly through social/farm forestry and supplements with purchases made from the State Forest Development Corporations.
Bagasse/ Straw: Though annual availability of agro residues is large yet, this may not be able to sustain the future growth of the Industry, taking due account of quality of paper required, environmental issues involved, etc. Moreover, bagasse is increasingly used by sugar mills for co-generation of power and no more easily available to the paper mills as raw material.
Waste Paper: Recovered fibre consumption is going up globally. In India about 850,000-1,000,000 tons of waste paper is being currently recovered annually. The recovery rate works out to about 20% which is much lower in comparison with 65% recovery achieved by many global players. Low recovery is on account of alternate use of paper in wrapping, packing, etc. The utilization rate of recovered fibre is only 47%. Paper mills are heavily dependent on imported waste paper which commands exorbitant price due to inadequate availability. India needs a well-defined and aggressive system for collection, sorting, grading and utilization recyclable waste paper to contain imports.
Energy Cost: The Government of India has recently withdrawn core sector status hitherto enjoyed by the paper industry. Cost of coal is escalating and prospect of availability of quality coal is diminishing. The imported coal price (Indonesian Origin � GCV 6000Kcal/Kg) had crossed USD 100/MT; such steep price rise had resulted in escalation of cost of production of those mills which happened to be dependent on imported coal for generation of steam/power. Also, power purchased from the grid is proving expensive for the industry.
Certification: Forest stewardship council certification is becoming a non trade barrier for Indian paper companies. As bulk of the raw material is obtained from farm and agro- forestry, IPMA is of the view that it would not be practical for huge number of farmers involved in social/farm forestry to group and obtain the FSC certificate for their produce. Though the farm forestry is a sustainable model promoted by the paper industry, the FSC principles and criterions are difficult to satisfy. IPMA is monitoring the move set afoot by the Government of India to establish Indian Forest Stewardship Council to help the process of certification. |
|
| |
|
|
|
Indian Paper Industry 
