Industry description
- Paper manufacturing industry can be divided into four main segments; packaging, graphic paper, recovered paper, and pulp.
- Pulp is the primary ingredient of most types of paper. In the process of paper making, there comes recovered paper which can be recycled to make other types of paper.
- Furthermore, manufacturing of pulp involves separating the cellulose fibres from fibre sources, used paper, and other impurities in wood.
- However, the process of manufacturing paper entails matting fibres into a sheet which are ultimately converted to other products.
- Apart from the four segments, paper products also include; bath and toilet tissue, paper towels, napkins, and paper plates among others.
- In Canada, paper manufacturing revenue reached $25.5 billion in 2016 compared with $25.9 billion in 2015. Besides, total revenue decreased from $27.4 billion in 2015 to $26.9 billion in 2016. Overall, net revenue increased to $3.22 billion from $3.14 billion in 2015 signifying a 2.5 percent increase (Canadian Industry statistics, 2018).
Current industry size
- Paper manufacturing industry is dominated by East Asia countries; South Korea, Japan, China, and Russia; Northern Europe, Northwest Russian, Sweden, and Finland and North America which include Canada and United States.
- According to Statista (2018), the international manufacturing of cardboard and paper reached approximately 407 million metric tons in 2014. The statistics firm further asserts that more than 205 million metric tons was attributable to packaging paper, whereas a third was used in manufacturing graphic paper.
- Confederation of European paper industry (CEPI) 2018 found out that paper and board production reached approximately 92.3 million tons in 2017 whereas global production increased by 1.5% to around 420 million metric tons.
- The demand of graphic paper is going down over the years. According to Berg and Lingqvist (2017), there was a decline in demand of graphic paper in North America and Europe and the trend is continuing to date.
Factors for profit and growth
- According PwC (2016), innovations played a significant role to spur growth of paper manufacturing industry. The report singled out role in venture capital, new technologies and material, international innovation initiatives, and innovation in paper and pulp industries.
- New products made from forest fibre greatly contributed to increase in earnings and overall growth of the industry. For example, cars and high strength concrete.
- Additionally, venture capitalists provided capital innovations that led to investments in unconventional projects which significantly increased profits of paper industry (PwC, 2016).
- Moreover, technological advancement especially social media played important role in in managing workforce and marketing of new products which ultimately translated into more profits.
- New trends in high quality paper packaging immensely contributed to growth of the industry.
- Increased demand of paper products too has contributed to growth of paper manufacturing industry. These have been realized from large supply contract and access to efficient techniques and technologies.
Industry analysis
- In relation to PwC (2016), the US is leading in sales revenue followed closely by Europe. This is reflected on top 100 companies where International Paper, a US based company is leading.
- Furthermore, PwC (2016) reports that International paper is the top most performer in the paper manufacturing industry.
- A sneak preview on the performance of International Paper from 2009 to 2017 (in 1000 tons) is as shown below.
- In Canada, Domtar is the leading company in paper manufacturing industry and ranks number 17 in the world (PwC, 2016).
- Moreover, Cascades, our chosen Canadian company is position 30 globally. Unfortunately, according to PwC (2016) report, WestRock does not feature in top 100 best perming companies in paper manufacturing.
- Overall, paper manufacturing seems to perform well in Canada since it is the leading in manufacturing sector (Canada Industry Statistics, 2018).
- The revelation by CEPI (2018) indicate that the size of the industry is growing year by year. Despite the growth, CEPI noticed that India, South Korea, and Canada dropped in paper manufacturing whereas the US remained stable and China increased its manufacturing by 4.7%.
Industry conclusion
- From the industry overview, the United States is the leading producer and exporter of paper products.
- Paper and board production increased by around 4.5% globally in 2017.
- In Canada, paper manufacturing industry is the leading in the manufacturing sector.
- International Paper Company from the US is the leading paper manufacturer in the world.
- Growth in paper manufacturing industry is attributed to innovations, especially in marketing and production.
References
Berg, P. & Lingqvist, O. (2017). Pulp, paper, and packaging in the next decade: Transformational change. Retrieved on March 17, 2018 from https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/paper-and-forest-products/our-insights/pulp-paper- and-packaging-in-the-next-decade-transformational-change
Canada Industry Statistics (2018). Manufacturing; Canada Industry Statistics. Retrieved on March 17, 2018 from https://www.ic.gc.ca/app/scr/app/cis/manufacturing-fabrication/322
Confederation of European paper industry (CEPI), 2018. Preliminary statistics 2017. Retrieved on March 17, 2018 from https://www.cepi.org/system/files/public/documents/publications/statistics/2018/Prelimina ry%202017%20FINALweb.pdf
Statista, 2018. Paper industry statistics. Retrieved on March 17, 2018 from https://www.statista.com/topics/1701/paper-industry/
Statista, 2018. International Paper's worldwide paper sales from 2009 to 2017, by major product (in 1,000 short tons). Retrieved on March 17, 2018 from https://www.statista.com/statistics/253484/global-sales-of-international-paper-by-major- product/
PwC, 2016. Global Forest, Paper and packaging Industry survey. 2016 edition survey of 2015 results. Retrieved on March 17, 2018 from https://www.pwc.com/gx/en/industries/assets/pwc-annual-fpp-industry-survey-2016- 10.pdf
