Singapore Bids to Be Pulp & Paper Trade Center
8/26/99
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RELAYED TEXT STARTS HERE:
Title: Singapore Bids to Be Pulp & Paper Trade Center
Source: Environment News Service
Status: Copyright 1999, contact source for permission to reprint
Date: August 26, 1999
SINGAPORE, August 26, 1999 (ENS) - The Singapore Trade Development
Board is developing the paper and pulp industry as a new trading
cluster, Singapore's Minister of State for Trade and Industry, Lim
Swee Say, said Tuesday.
Speaking at the opening of the Corporate Headquarters of Pan Asia
Paper Company, the minister said, "We are especially pleased to
welcome PAPCO as it is the world's first global alliance in the
newsprint business and Asia's largest newsprint producer."
Lim said, "The paper and pulp industry is expected to see significant
growth over the next few years. The UN estimated world trade in paper
and pulp at about US$130 billion for 1998, with an average annual
growth rate of 4.2 percent."
The UN projected that world paper consumption would increase to 346
million tonnes in 2005. This compares with just 239 million tonnes in
1990, the minister said.
A sizeable portion of this growth is expected to come from the Asia-
acific region.
In the past decade, the Asia-Pacific region has been the fastest
growing regional market for paper and pulp.
The minister cited figures showing that newsprint imports into Asia
grew at more than nine percent annually, compared to the 2.6 percent
growth rate worldwide.
In the last decade, Asia has recorded an annual growth of about eight
percent in total wood pulp, paper and paperboard production. This
compares with an annual growth rate of only 1.4 percent globally.
"There is therefore much optimism for the growth of pulp and paper
industry in the region. This is reflected in the moves by American
and European paper and pulp traders to divert their marketing efforts
to Asia," Lim said. "Several pulp and paper traders from Sweden such
as Cellmark and Ekman have agreements with mills in Indonesia to
market Indonesian output, through their Singapore presence, to the
rest of the world."
Some Asian firms, such as APRIL, one of the largest paper and pulp
manufacturers in Indonesia, are moving strongly into the
international market.
APRIL has recently entered into an alliance with UPM-Kymmene, one of
Europe's largest forestry groups and the second largest paper
producer in the world. UPM-Kymmene will market APRIL's fine paper in
Europe, while APRIL would do the same for UPM-Kymmene in the region.
Singapore has a well-established pool of talents and manpower
competent in managing international trade, the minister said. "We aim
to attract leading international paper and pulp players to use
Singapore as their regional trading and investment headquarters. We
are also encouraging existing players to further expand and upgrade
their operations here."