Major growth cycle for India’s paper industry

India – ‘€˜India is the only country growing successively by over 7% in the last five years. It will become an even more important business partner for Europe than before,’€™ announced BIR world president Ranjit Singh Baxi at last week’€™s bvse paper recycling conference in Düsseldorf.

‘I am sure India’s economy will stay strong in the next two to five years as well. For 2017, the anticipated growth is 7.5%,’ Baxi said. He noted that India’s annual paper consumption currently stands at 13 million tonnes and the figure is growing at an average of 7.6% per year.

With a population of 1.25 billion people and a per-capita paper consumption of more than 10 kg, there are 800 paper mills operating countrywide to feed the sharp rise in demand.

‘Newsprint production will be around 6 million tonnes by 2025, requiring about 8 million tonnes of recycled fibre,’ Baxi observed. ‘For Duplex board production, the figure is thought likely to touch 5 million tonnes by 2025, requiring 6.6 million tonnes of recovered fibre. And kraft paper production is expected to be at 7 million tonnes, requiring 9.5 million tonnes of recycled fibre.’

According to Baxi, these figures beg an obvious question: ‘Where is the raw material to meet this huge demand?’ In light of China’s uncertain market, he suggested it is ‘high time’ that European companies start thinking about finding a new home for their material. As he put it: ‘Find a home for it today before someone kicks you out.’

Recycling International will feature a full report of the bvse paper conference in its upcoming May issue.