4. ANALYSIS ON THE SITUATION AND TREND

4.1 Paper-making Industry

4.1 Paper-making Industry

4.1.1 Imbalance Between Supply and Demand of Production

4.1.1 Imbalance Between Supply and Demand of Production

4.1.1.1 The Amount of Consumption Surpasses That of Production in Paper and Paperboard

From 1980 to 1989, the average annual production of paper and paperboard was 8,960.8 thousand tons and the average annual consumption was 9,553.2 thousand tons so that the deficit was 592.4 thousand tons (some 6% of consumption). From 1990 to 1995, annual average production and consumption were 18,771.7 and 20,523.1 thousand tons respectively and the deficit rose to over 8% of consumption that had itself more than doubled. In 1995, the pulp production was 21,000 thousand tons, of which 2,080 thousand tons (some 10%) was made from wood and 10,780 tons (just over half) from non-wood⁶.

⁶ These estimates differ somewhat from China data released in the FAO Yearbook of Forest Products, In 1995, wood pulp output is reported at 2651 thousand mt and non-wood at 17,551 thousand mt (a repeat of the 1994 official estimate, for lack of new data) (editor).

Table 22 - The Outputs of Pulp, Paper and Paperboard over the years (10³ tons) (all numbers rounded off)

	Pulp				Paper and Paperboard				Annual consumption per capita
	Output		Machine processed		Output		Machine processed
	Quantity	Index	Quantity	Index	Quantity	Index	Quantity	Index	(kg)
1979	4,895	100	3,929	100	5,180	100	4,928	100	5.65
1980	5,331	109	4,263	109	5,626	109	5,346	108	6.29
1981	5,631	115	4,063	103	5,693	110	5,402	110	6.21
1982	5,971	122	4,211	107	6,138	118	5,890	119	6.37
1983	6,195	127	4,589	117	6,839	132	6,613	134	7.04
1984	6,648	136	5,146	131	7,765	150	7,559	153	7.94
1985	7,204	147	6,152	157	9,308	180	9,112	185	9.45
1986	8,751	179	6,791	173	10,164	196	9,986	203	10.48
1987	10,968	224	9,695	247	11,645	225	11,410	231	11.72
1988	10,975	224	8,726	222	12,900	249	1,270	257	12.25
1989	11,865	242	8,686	221	13,530	261	13,332	270	12.57
1990	12,302	251	8,350	213	13,918	289	13,719	278	12.79
1991	12,936	264	8,606	219	14,987	337	14,787	300	13.89
1992	14,462	295	10,318	263	17,450	337	17,250	350	16.86
1993	17,980	367	13,640	347	19,340	373	19,140	388	16.50
1994	20,200	413	15,884	404	22,412	433	21,383	433	18.40
1995	21,090	431	13,840	352	24,200	467	24,000	487	21.00

4.1.1.2 Irrational paper product structure

An important aspect of imbalance is the shortage of high quality products made from wood pulp which lead to dependence on the importation. A the same time, quality products made from straw pulp are unsalable.

4.1.1.3 Non Wood as Main Raw Materials

There is a shortage of forest resource in China and the timber cannot meet the demand so that the proportion of wood pulp in paper-making decreases year by year. Among the non-wood fibre pulp, rice and wheat pulp constitute over 45%. The pulp output of reeds, bamboo and bagasse was 1,330 thousand tons in 1991 and increased to 1,850 thousand tons by 1995, an increase of 39% in only 4 years. The proportion of pulp from waste paper increased year by year. Table 23 shows the structure of pulp.

Table 22 - Output of pulp, paper and paperboard in 1994 (10³)⁷

⁷ The production of paper and paperboard reported in this table equals only machine-made output for 1994 (See Table 21). Production statistics for handmade paper are difficult to collect reliably.

Pulp	Production %	Paper	Production	Paperboard	Production
Total	15,884.5	Total	13,194.4	Total	8,188.4
1. Sulphite pulp	544.1	Newsprint	733	Felt paper	119.7
Wood pulp	88.7			Industrial paperboard	82.3
Straw pulp	231.3			Packing board	3,682.4
Bagasse pulp	-
2. Sulphate	6,659.7
Wood pulp	893.6
Straw pulp	461.9
Bagasse pulp	131.5
Bamboo pulp	129.4
Waste hemp and cotton	77.4
Straw pulp	1,777.7
Waste paper pulp	359.1
3. Mechanical pulp	496.7
4. Sodium sulphite pulp	90.2
5. Ammonium sulphite pulp	339.3
6. Other methods pulp	201.4
7. Other kinds pulp	193.6
8. Raw pulp	5,817.7

Table 23 - The structure of pulp fibre from 1991 to 1995 (10³ tons)

Pulp fibres		1991		1992		1993		1994		1995
		Used	Percent	Used	percent	Used	Percent	Used	Percent	Used	Percent
Annual consumption		15,000	100	17,500	100	18,970	100	21,600	100	22,680	100
Wood pulp		2,100	14	2,290	13.09	2,280	12.00	2,640	12.22	2,900	12.79
	Local	1,500	10	1,640	9.37	1,770	9.33	1,830	8.47	2,080	9.17
	Imported	600	4	652	3.72	510	2.69	812	3.75	820	3.62
Reeds		870	5.8	900	5.14	850	4.48	1,050	4.86	950	4.19
Bagasse		290	1.33	340	1.94	300	1.58	350	1.62	550	2.43
Bamboo		170	1.13	180	1.03	160	0.84	190	0.88	350	1.54
Straw		6,810	45.4	8,100	46.29	8,920	47.02	9,820	45.46	8,930	39.37
Waste flax and hemp		460	3.07	480	2.74	430	2.27	450	2.08	-	-
Waste paper		4,050	27.0	4,900	28.0	5,400	28.47	6,300	29.17	7,600	33.51
	Local8	3,430		4,270	24.4	4,920	25.9	5,710	26.4	6,830	30.1
	Imported	620	4.13	630	4.80	480	2.6	590	2.71	770	3.39
Others		250	1.67	310	1.77	630	3.32	800	3.70	1,400	6.17

⁸ Local output (i.e. wastepaper collection) derived by subtracting imports from total use (editor).