The impact of Russia-Ukraine conflict on the global paper industry

Russia is a country rich in forest resources, the forest area accounts for 1/5 of the world's forest area. Russia’s wood species mainly are larch, camphor pine, white pine, red pine and other conifers, export to larch the most.

Russia's annual wood pulp production capacity is about 10 million tons, accounting for 4 percent of the world's total. The annual production capacity of paper and cardboard is about 12 million tons. Annual exports of paper and cardboard are 1.29 million tons.

Russia is one of the world's leading pulp exporters. Russia's pulp exports are about 2.1 million to 2.3 million tons per year, accounting for 4 to 5 percent of the global trade volume. More than 60 percent of the pulp exports go to China, and some are exported to South Korea and Europe.

Ukraine has an annual production capacity of 1.2 million tons of paper and cardboard. Ukraine relies on imports for its paper consumption, mainly from Finland, Germany, Poland, Russia, China and Sweden, which account for 64% of its total imports.

After the conflict broke out, Europe imposed economic sanctions on Russia, restricting trade in chemicals and other paper materials. Some Russian paper manufacturers have been forced to stop production due to a shortage of auxiliary materials. Europe, which relies on Russian imports for wood chips and pulp, is running short, and some regions are running out of newsprint and printing paper.

Since the outbreak of the conflict with Ukraine, Russia has banned the export of needles to Europe, the United States, Canada, Japan, South Korea, China Taiwan and Australia. Conifer chip supplies are affected in these areas. Finland shares a border with Russia and is also dependent on Russia for log imports, with 77% of its imports coming from Russia.

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