Similar to previous years, the Pulp and Paper industry underwent some significant changes and faced some unexpected challenges in 2022.

On January 1, 2022, the Paperworkers’ Union’s strike begun at most of UPM’s Finnish mills. Nearly 2,000 members of the union went on strike, which lasted almost four months until an agreement was reached on April 22.

Cartonboard has experienced significant growth over the last couple of years. It currently makes up about 17% of the global paper and board market – the second leading grade behind containerboard.

Throughout 2022, we’ve seen the Pulp and Paper industry go above and beyond to place sustainability matters at the forefront of its priorities.

When the term inflation is in the news, panic, confusion and speculation tend to fill the air. While most people understand that inflation means rising prices, they tend to stop there and assume they need to cut costs immediately.

The AGU journal Earth’s Future conducted a study to get an idea of what water scarcity might look like in the coming years.

Resolute Forest Products has recently announced plans to sell its Thunder Bay pulp and paper mill located in northwestern Ontario.

Since the global Covid-19 pandemic supercharged the popularity of e-commerce, packaging and corrugated have been the hottest sectors in the Pulp and Paper industry since early 2020.

FisherSolve is very commonly used amongst many major players in the Pulp and Paper industry to evaluate current conditions of the paper market regarding production, costs, carbon, energy, and viability.

With so much activity that has occurred in the pulp and paper industry over the last quarter, it’s difficult to keep up with some of the major developments that could impact various segments across the industry.

As we enter 3Q2022, many companies have been recognized for their work towards meeting their sustainability commitments, while many others have announced new eco-friendly product developments and initiatives.

Kraft packaging paper has maintained a roughly 4% share of all fiber-based packaging capacity since 2015, however, as of late, the relative share of Asia-Pacific (APAC) capacity in kraft papers is beginning to grow, as seen in the image below.

Unbleached recycled fiber market pulp, also known as brown recycled pulp or BRP, is a new grade of market pulp that didn’t exist before 2017, but is expected to be a hot raw material in the Pulp and Paper industry within the next couple of years.

Consumer awareness about excessive plastic pollution and its hazardous effects to the environment has intensified in recent years, and we are beginning to see more countries begin to impose bans in an attempt to significantly reduce plastic pollution.

With so much activity that has occurred in the pulp and paper industry over the last quarter, it’s difficult to keep up with some of the major developments that could impact various segments across the industry.

As the sustainability movement continues to gain traction, there is a clear trend to move further away from unsustainable packaging and utensils, such as plastic and Styrofoam trays, cups and plates.

We now live in an era where the world has come to the realization that we cannot keep consuming our natural resources in the way we once did.

The Pulp and Paper industry continues to gain recognition for its sustainability-related advancements and achievements through new innovations and related initiatives.

Russia exported around 6 million tons of pulp and paper products in 2021, with close to 40% of the flow arriving in China’s market, as seen in Figure 1.

So far, 2022 has proven to be just as unpredictable and hectic as the previous two years.

The global economy has been navigating evolving supply chain crises since mid-2020, and some of the associated challenges seem to be growing more complex.