Lee & Man bullish about China’s paper consumption outlook

Asia – Net profits at Lee & Man Paper Manufacturing, one of China’€™s largest recovered fibre consumers and containerboard producers, sky-rocketed 53.4% year on year in the opening half of 2017 to HK$ 2.19 billion (US$ 280 million), which is equivalent to HK$ 792 (US$ 101) per ton.

‘Looking ahead, overall paper consumption (in China) still possesses considerable room for growth, thus the group is optimistic about the outlook of both the packaging paper segment and the paper industry as a whole,’ states Lee & Man’s chairman Dr Raymond Lee.

While China’s economic growth has slowed, the rapid development of e-commerce and online shopping has boosted a packaging paper industry ‘currently undergoing consolidation’, he adds.

The group’s annual production capacity currently stands at 5.63 million tons of containerboard, 180 000 tons of pulp and 465 000 tons of tissue.