In the context of the domestic paper industry facing many challenges, the participation of enterprises in the development of raw material areas is considered the right direction, contributing to reducing dependence on foreign raw materials, thereby can be active in the production process.
Challenges from raw materials
Up to now, the paper industry has always been assessed by the Government and the Ministry of Industry and Trade as an area that needs attention and development support. Currently, Vietnam’s paper industry contributes a significant part to the overall development of the forest product processing industry in particular as well as the economy in general.
However, it is a fact that in the face of increasingly fierce competition from foreign enterprises such as Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia…, the domestic paper industry has faced many challenges, especially when not self-sufficiency in raw materials.
According to statistics, each year Vietnamese paper-making enterprises use up to 70% of waste materials for production, more than half of which must be imported.
According to the explanation of the paper industry, the high import situation is because the enterprises have not been proactive in the source of raw materials to make raw materials for the production of finished paper products. The reason is that there are not enough lines to produce wood pulp.
Currently, most of them have to export raw wood to other countries and re-import finished pulp as raw materials for paper production. In addition, the source of raw wood is still not much, due to competition with the wood processing industry.
According to a representative of An Hoa Paper Joint Stock Company, which owns and operates An Hoa pulp and paper factory, investing in paper mills will help domestic enterprises compete with foreign ones. However, this route depends on the financial capacity of each business.
With An Hoa Paper Joint Stock Company, for sustainable development, in addition to investing in equipment, An Hoa Paper also sets out a strategy to invest in the paper material area with the construction of a large forest land fund and raw material area, thereby reducing the burden of importing pulp and paper materials.
Which direction for business?
According to a representative of An Hoa Paper Joint Stock Company, the development of raw materials is considered an inevitable trend for paper production enterprises. As part of a long-term strategy, in the past time, An Hoa Paper has focused on building a large forest land fund and raw material area.
With favorable geographical conditions, the Company has also built forestry material centers in Ha Giang, Lao Cai, Yen Bai, Thai Nguyen and Bac Can provinces. In addition to creating jobs for many local workers, An Hoa Paper annually provides nearly 3 million seedlings, guiding farming techniques, purchasing wood and wood chips from the people.
Pulp production line of An Hoa Pulp and Paper Factory has a capacity of 130,000 tons/year, with technology of continuous cooking, bleaching without using elemental chlorine (ECF), modern and new equipment system. 100%, of which the main equipment is manufactured by Metso in Sweden and Finland. The recovery system is capable of recovering up to 95% of chemicals used in the production process. This contributes to reducing product costs and minimizing waste to the environment.