October 9, 2000 The production and sales of domestically-produced stationery and printing paper has been declining in recent months, according to the Taiwan Paper Industry Association. One of the main reasons causing this situation is the stiff competition of cheap imports from regions such as mainland China and Indonesia, a spokesperson from the association confirmed. The Taiwan Paper Industry Association's statistics show that Taiwan produced 31,000 metric tons of non-coated stationery/printing paper in July of this year, down more than six percent over last year. During the same months, domestic sales were also down 34 percent from 1999. In September, production was again lower than last year, demonstrating a drop of more than 10 percent over September 1999. In contrast, the import of stationery/printing paper from mainland China has remained at between 6,000 and 7,000 metric tons for the last few months. Earlier this year local manufacturers were forced to raise their domestic sales prices due to increases in international prices of pulp. This situation, combined with the import competition, has caused domestic sales volume to decrease and inventory to remain high. |
