No.3214
Paper and Paperboard Market in Japan: Key Research Findings 2022
Shipment Volume of Paper & Paperboard at Domestic Paper Manufacturers Projected to Decline in 2022
Yano Research Institute (the President, Takashi Mizukoshi) has conducted a survey on the market of paper and paperboard at home and abroad, and found out the trends by product segment, the trends by market players, and future perspective.
Market Overview
Total shipment volume (a total of domestic shipment and export) of paper and paperboard produced by domestic paper manufacturers is estimated at 23,650,000 tonnes in 2022 (between January and December 2022). Demand for paperboard, used for package applications in particular, is propelled by the ease of pandemic restrictions, which has been invigorating economic activities and consumer spending to return to normal. However, as digitization is taking away demand for printed papers, the overall shipment volume of paper and paperboard is falling.
Noteworthy Topics
Soaring Fuel Price & Recovery of Profit Margins as Pressing Issues for Manufacturers
Price of fuel, such as petroleum, coal, and natural gas have been soaring. In particular, the price of coal is skyrocketing/staying high as the Russian invasion of Ukraine has left world markets in disarray. In addition, price of raw materials for paper production, such as chip, pulp, and wastepaper, are also rising across the board. The situation has been worsened further by the rise of shipping costs led by a global shortage of shipping containers, which coincided with the rapid depreciation of the yen.
Under the circumstances, paper manufacturers have revised their prices twice in 2022 for almost all product types, including printing paper, information paper, containerboard, solid bleached sulfate (SBS), and packaging paper. Still, the manufacturers are suffering from the cost increase that exceeds the level of markup they added in the revisions. For this reason, the paper manufacturers have revised the price of printing paper and information paper for the third time in 2023.
The series of price revisions may deteriorate the demand further for printing paper and information paper. In order to entrench the new pricing, it is important that paper manufacturers manage the supply and demand balance by planning production capacity in anticipation of forthcoming demand decline.
Future Outlook
Shipment volume of paper and paperboard at paper manufacturers (as a total of domestic shipment and export) in 2023 (between January and December 2023) is forecasted to fall by 1.9% from the previous year to 23,200,000 tonnes.
On the premise that domestic demand grows stably, the demand for containerboard anticipates expansion in tandem with the rise of global demand. Despite the fact that stagnation or slight decline is foreseen for the demand of SBS and packaging paper, both the base paper mainly used for packaging applications, these products may gain momentum again once they are recognized as alternatives to plastics causing ocean pollution. Moreover, considering the recovery of inbound demand (demand by foreign tourists visiting Japan), sales of sanitary paper, which is used as the base paper for tissue papers, toilet papers, and paper diapers, is also expected to stay strong. Meanwhile, the demand structure for paper as an information medium is unlikely to improve, as business operations and sales promotion have gone digital during the pandemic. On top of that, it is assumed that the repeated price revisions will prompt the shift to paperless. Thus, overall, the paper and paperboard market is forecasted to shrink in 2023.
Research Outline
2.Research Object: Pulp & paper manufacturers, distributors of paper/converted paper products, trading companies, newspaper companies, paper converters, and other related businesses
3.Research Methogology: Face-to-face interviews by our expert researchers (including online interviews), survey by telephone, mailed questionnaire, and literature research.
What is the Paper and Paperboard Market?
In this research, the paper market refers to newsprint, printing paper/information paper, packaging paper, sanitary paper such as toilet papers, as well as other miscellaneous paper for industrial use (wallpapers, printed plywood, etc.,) and household use (tea bags, grease papers, etc.). The paperboard market refers to the containerboard, boxboard, and other paperboard. The market size is calculated based on the shipment volume at paper manufacturers (as a total of domestic shipment and export).
<Products and Services in the Market>
Paper/paperboard, raw materials for paper production (chip, pulp, wastepaper), paper chemicals (paper making chemicals for information paper, internal sizing agent, surface sizing agent, paper strengthening agent, coating pigment/filler pigment, binders, etc.)
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