India’s domestic paper consumption at over 16 MTPA (with imports at over 2 MTPA); demand projected to grow to 23 – 36 MTPA by 2024-25
(New Delhi, January 2017) As in the past, the Indian Paper Manufacturers Association (IPMA) released its Indian Paper Industry Pre-Budget Memorandum 2017-18 last month, on the eve of the finance minister of India presenting the Union Budget 2017-18. The memorandum, while essentially a “wish list”, also gives a bird’s eye view of the state of the industry.
Following are some extracts:
The domestic market / consumption of paper is over 16 million tonnes per annum (TPA), with over 2 million TPA being imported. By 2024-25, under the baseline scenario, domestic consumption is projected to rise to 23.50 million TPA (in the optimistic scenario, consumption is expected to rise to 36.90 million TPA by 2024-25). …
About 1 million TPA of integrated pulp, paper and paperboard capacity has to be created in India on an annual basis over the current capacity to meet the growing demand. …
Imports of paper, paperboard and newsprint into India have been steadily increasing. In the last five years, imports have risen at a CAGR of 11.4% in value terms (from INR 7,152 crores in 2010-11 to INR 12,284 crores in 2015-16), and 7.9% in volume terms (from 1.8 million tonnes in 2010-11 to 2.6 million tonnes in 2015-16). …
Low Cost Imports a Major Challenge
However, while domestic industry is operating under extremely challenging conditions, substantial quantities of paper and paperboard is imported into the country at significantly lower costs under the aegis of the FTAs.
Under the India-ASEAN FTA, import duties on paper and paperboard have being progressively reduced, and from a base rate of 10%, the basic customs duty came down to nil rate with effect from 01.01.2014. As per the FTA entered into with South Korea, there is progressive reduction in basic customs duty and it will be 0% in the year 2017.
To download [pdf] report Go To: Indian Paper Industry Pre-Budget Memorandum 2017-18 (Source: press release)
