(www.chinapaperonline.com) China’s National Development & Reform Commission (NDRC) released its 2019 version of the Guiding Catalogue of Industrial Structure Adjustment in mid-November. To take effect on January 1st, 2020, the guiding catalogue clearly defines official preference, restriction and rejection to existing and planned projects involving all manufacturing industries in China.

To the country’s paper industry, the Guiding Catalogue updates and details the government policy:

1.To encourage investment and construction of chemical wood pulp mills with individual annual capacity over 300,000 mt, chemi-mechanical wood pulp or chemical bamboo pulp mills each over 100,000 mt of annual capacity and paper/board mills – excluding newsprint and fully coated paper mills - under forest-paper integration projects. The government will also encourage investment and construction of pulp mills each over 100,000 mtpy of designed capacity employing clean production technology and process and consuming non-wood fiber. At the same time, development of new equipment in pulp and paper production and application of ECF and TCT in the bleaching process of chemical pulping are obviously preferred.

2.To continue restrictions on investment and construction of pulp and paper projects in the country’s ecologically vulnerable areas and same restrictions to investment and construction of a chemical pulp mill under 300,000 mt of annual capacity or chemi-mechanical and bamboo pulp mill below 100,000 mt of annual capacity.

3.To reaffirm more seriously than ever the government’s ban on investment and construction of irrigated fiber plantations for paper production in areas severely short of water resources. And no investment or operation of pulp facilities in lime process pits, except in the production of rice paper (or Xuanzhi – paper widely used in Chinese traditional painting and calligraphy). Further, chemical pulp mills at 51,000 mt of annual capacity each, non-wood pulp mills at 34,000 mt annual capacity each and recycled paper pulp mill under 10,000 mt of annual capacity each shall be eliminated. At the same time, printing/writing paper machines under 1.76 meters trim width and below 120 m/min. velocity as well as boxboard and containerboard machines under 2 meters trim width and below 80 m/min. velocity are on the purging list.