Paper import continues to rise at 11.8% annually

Speaking to a leading daily, Rohit Pandit, secretary general of IPMA had said that imports have been steadily increasing at 11.8% year on year in terms of value in the last six years.

He also added that import of these items from ASEAN countries have grown almost 43% in volume in the last six years. Imports from South Korea alone have risen by 58%.

The report also stated that last year, imports from ASEAN countries, comprising mainly of copier paper, stood at 3.46 lakh tonne and from South Korea, comprising mainly of newsprint, 4.03 lakh tonne.

According to data available with Indian Paper Manufacturers Association (IPMA), import of coated paper, which was 45,492 tonnes in February this year, dramatically increased to 73,792 tonnes in July. In the same period, import of uncoated paper has gone up from 13,347 tonnes to 32,887 tonnes.

Earlier in October 2017, Indian Agro & Recycled Paper Mills’ Association in a statement said that, ‘The domestic industry in India has started feeling the impact and the government should increase import duty on paper and paperboard to 20%.’

The report added that the association had the import issues as the main pre-budget issues raised by the industry with the government.