Latest reports from China's National Bureau of Statistics (NBOS) showed the country's machine-made paper and board cumulative output in the first two months of 2022 was close to 20.95 million/mt, an increase of about 260,000 tons over the same period last year.

However, newsprint output declined further. During the period, only 123,000/mt were produced, down 3.9% from that of 2021. In view of the consistent shrinks in the newsprint industry which reduced its 2021 production to less than 900,000/mt, or -11.2% year-on-year, it is expected that such negative trend will continue into 2022. On the other hand, China's packaging paperboard production, though not covered in the NBOS reports, will continue its growth at double-digit rates, with linerboard and corrugating medium in particular, as widely believed by industry professionals in view of substantial increase in demand from China's domestic and overseas markets as well as the commissioning and full scale running of new projects by large paper companies such as Nine Dragons in 2022.

Regardless of the consistent increase in overall production, industry earnings continue its decline. Latest reports from NBOS showed business revenue of China's paper and paper products industries in the first 2 months of 2022 were only RMB222.67 billion, narrowing the growth to +4.7% year-on-year, while business cost rising +9.1% to RMB196.61 billion. At the same time, earnings plummeted -57.7% to RMB6.56 billion - the lowest among the 41 industries monitored by NBOS!