(www.chinapaperonline.com) Latest reports from China Customs showed 19.80 million metric tons of market pulp were shipped into the country from the outside world in the first nine months of 2019, +29.63% from the corresponding period of 2018. In September alone, deliveries to Chinese destination ports exceeded 2.16 million metric tons, +1.9% from 12 months ago. By value, however, it fell below US$13.20 billion of the nine month total, -11.4% as a result of price erosion in the global pulp market. It is expected that China’s full year imports of market pulp in 2019 may top 26 million metric tons, rising more than +6% from that of 2018.


It is generally agreed that the continuous increase in China’s market pulp imports is partly driven by the lack of recycled fiber and partly by the need to blend virgin fiber with recycled or non-wood fiber to optimize furnishing in paper and board production. In spite of the economic challenges and industry changes, nearly 92.88 million metric tons of paper and board were produced in the first 3 quarters of 2019, +2.5% from the same period of 2018, according to China National Statistics Bureau (CNSB). Industry analysts commented, however, that the rise could have been higher, had there not be massive shutdowns in small and environmentally unfriendly mills that discounted the new capacity start-ups in packaging paperboard and tissue sectors.