China's Paper Industry Faces Challenges after WTO EntryThe challenges posed to the Chinese paper industry by foreign and joint venture paper producing companies are set to be heightened by China's imminent entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO).At present, according to industrial experts, the Chinese paper industry's major problems revolve around the fact that many Chinese mills are poorly equipped in regard to both facilities and technology. "I noticed that Chinese paper mills are either equipped with facilities produced 40 or 50 years ago or those very advanced imported ones. There are few mills equipped with facilities in between," said Garry Beswetherick, chief representative in Shanghai of Finnish-based Raisio Chemicals. This company, together with another 100 Chinese and international paper producing or related companies, is participating in the 2000 China International Exhibition on Paper Making Industry and Paper in Shanghai which ended Monday. Due to poor equipment, most Chinese paper mills are continuing to produce paper out of non-wood fibre, such as straw fibre. Foreign countries now mainly produce high value-added paper out of wood fibre. Last year, China imported a large amount of this type of paper. At the exhibition, the consensus of expert opinion coincided with the comments of Hu Zongyuan, a consultant of the State's Bureau of Light Industry, "The cost and pollution are... high with those Chinese mills while the quality of their paper products is low." Such problems, Hu said, contributed to the loss of the Chinese paper industry's ability to compete in the world market. At the exhibition, the experts feared that in the light of China's impending entry into the WTO, entailing the probability of slashed tariff rates, the loss would be greater if things were not urgently corrected. Raisio Chemicals' representative, Beswetherick, was also concerned over the water waste caused by the Chinese paper industry. "We managed to use less than five cubic metres of water for production of every ton paper according to international standard," he said. "Chinese mills, however, use a much larger amount." He attributed the waste to out-of-date facilities and poor recycling technology. Zhang Junnan, general manager of Shanghai Electric Group Paper Machinery Co Ltd, agreed that how to produce paper in an environmentally friendly manner posed a challenge to China. |
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