Paper Industry Sees a Turn

Attendees at the American Forest & Paper Association’s annual Paper Week program heard a flurry of statistical information, as well as commentary from various companies that forecast a mild turnaround for the paper industry.

In a general session that focused on the near term outlook most paper industry officials see a slow turnaround later this year. During a general session focusing on the paper industry John Weaver, president and CEO of Abitibi-Consolidated, noted that while North American markets for newsprint should show some improvements over the next year, the greatest growth region is likely to be China and Southeast Asia.

At the same time, while the Pacific Rim has traditionally been a steady market for newsprint, this region is becoming more self sufficient. A host of new capacity is coming on line that should allow Asia to rely less on the shipment of newsprint from North America and more of newsprint produced within each Asian country.

Magnifying this point, a spokesman for the Chinese Paper Association presented statistical information showing that the growth in newsprint production in China was far outpacing other regions of the world.

On another tack, Martin Glass, a consultant, took at look at the continued consolidation. While acknowledging the mergers that have reduced the number of paper companies in North America, the move toward consolidation in Europe has resulted in a handful of European paper companies having a significant percentage of the European market.

Along with controlling a large part of the European market, European paper companies are becoming a larger portion of the overall paper industry. One factor that has benefited European paper companies is the conversion of various European currencies into the unified Euro.