Chairman of the Vietnam Pulp and Paper Association Hoang Trung Son addresses a conference of the paper industry

How have paper companies performed recently?

Hit by world economic and political turmoil in recent years, Vietnamese paper and packaging companies continue to face a lot of difficulties. The export market, especially China, has shrunk in both volume and price while paper and carton packaging investments have kept rising, resulting in extremely fierce competitive pressures.

Nonetheless, the sustainable development trend of paper companies has been optimistically demonstrated by an increasing number of new medium and large projects (100,000 tons a year or more), powered by advanced technology and equipment, sophisticated digitalization and automation to save energy and resources, reduce emissions, manage and treat waste well. Additionally, some localities, typically Bac Ninh province, have actively eliminated environmental pollution in craft villages, including paper manufacturing. These factors have directly raised the image of the paper industry in the green economy and the circular economy.

Besides the above factors, what else challenges the Vietnamese paper industry?

Currently, the Vietnamese paper industry is facing various challenges that need to be addressed and actively resolved. These include imbalanced investment, potential input shortage, insufficient and weak labor force, especially highly skilled managers and technical workers.

Moreover, the perception and awareness of localities and society about the paper industry needs to be changed, especially in pulp production. Previously, locals often lacked interest in pulp production investment projects because these projects were thought to pose high environmental risks. This gave rise to a paradox that we are a leading exporter of wood chips, with 15-18 million metric tons of dried equivalents a year but we still have to import 400,000-500,000 tons of pulp annually and this demand is likely to grow rapidly in the coming time.

Does that mean we need to have a more correct, fairer and more open view of the paper industry?

Most countries in the world, even developed ones, regard the paper industry an important economic sector, which is naturally suitable for the green economy and circular economy, due to the following factors: Meeting essential needs of life, high collection and recycling rate (the world's average collection rate is currently about 65% and over 85% in developed countries), renewable inputs (wood chips, exploited from commercially planted forests) and easily decomposed products in natural environmental conditions.

Furthermore, the paper industry is also actively improving both production and consumption by economizing resources (producing and using more thin paper products, with lower whiteness or no bleaching), consuming less energy and clean water and reducing emissions. Therefore, paper products are being prioritized and encouraged by the whole world to replace disposable plastic products.

Indeed, there is a great need for changes in perspective and mindset about the role and true nature of the paper industry, especially for relevant agencies and authorities at all levels to have appropriate policies to support the rapid and sustainable development of the paper and pulp industry to meet the growing demand of society and other economic sectors.

Chairman of the Vietnam Pulp and Paper Association Hoang Trung Son presents commemorative medals to sponsors of the conference of the paper industry

What solutions are needed to sustainably develop the paper industry?

In Vietnam, the current demand for paper consumption per capita is still as low as about 60kg a year, compared to about 100kg in China while over 200kg in developed countries such as Western Europe, the US, Japan and South Korea. For that reason, according to experts, the paper demand in Vietnam still has much room for robust growth and if there are no appropriate policies on import of recovered/scrap paper as inputs for paper production and effective settlement of input imbalances and shortages for production, more difficulties and complications will certainly threaten the business performance of paper companies.

To develop sustainably, the Vietnamese paper industry needs thorough pulp production investments and to further raise the collection rate of used paper. Hopefully in the next few years, Vietnam will have 1-2 pulp projects of sufficient scale (200,000 tons or more a year) furnished with advanced equipment and technology to turn out premium products at competitive prices, achieve investment efficiency and ensure good environmental protection.

I would like to reiterate that the most important thing for businesses now is to focus on investing in advanced technology and equipment, enhancing digitalization and automation, practicing sustainable ESG-based business to make quality products favored by consumers at the lowest possible cost, not only for the domestic market but also for export, while fully complying with environmental protection regulations. That is sustainable development!

Thank you so much!