APKI forecasts increase in pulp, paper exports
APKI forecasts increase in pulp, paper exports
JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian Pulp and Paper Association (APKI)
said it expected the total export of pulp, paper and paper
products to increase by 13 percent this year to US$3.4 billion
compared to last year.
APKI chairman M. Mansur said on Friday that the demand for
pulp, paper and paper products on the world market was extremely
high and Indonesia was able to increase production.
He said that the demand for paper on the world market stood at
325 million tons a year, and that it increased annually by
between 2 percent and 3 percent.
"Indonesia and Brazil are the only two countries still able to
increase its pulp production capacity because of our vast
forests," he said, explaining that pulp, the raw material for
paper, was made from wood or wood waste obtained from the
companies' industrial forests.
Out of the country's three million hectares of industrial
forests, only 1.2 million have been utilized, Mansur said, adding
that Indonesia had 141 million hectares of forest.
"Production capacity in top-producing countries, such as North
America and Scandinavia, are limited because their forests aren't
as vast," he said in a discussion here.
Mansur said that Indonesia's rank as one of the largest paper
producers in the world slipped from 11th place to 12th after
Brazil this year.
"It's because we haven't increased our capacity for several
years due to the crisis," he said, adding that he hoped the new
government under President Megawati Soekarnoputri would be able
to quickly resolve economic problems so that companies could
begin expansion to fulfill the export demand.
Top paper producers include the United States, Japan, China,
Canada, Germany, Finland, Sweden, France, Korea, Italy, Brazil
and Indonesia. Countries producing pulp include the United
States, Canada, China, Finland, Sweden, Japan, Brazil, Russia and
Indonesia.
Indonesia's 81 pulp and paper companies produce 5.2 million
tons of pulp a year and 9.1 million tons of paper a year.
Domestic consumption for paper rose to 3.95 million tons last
year compared to 3.5 million tons in 1999, and pulp consumption
also rose slightly to 3.5 million tons in 2000 from 3.47 million
during the previous year.(tnt)