Referring to the country’s need for 380,000 tons of writing paper, the head of the Paper and Cardboard Syndicate said, “180,000 tons of writing paper production capacity has been created in the country, but this production is low, because due to existing laws, producers cannot compete with importers.”

According to ISNA, Abolfazl Roghani Golpayegani announced in a press conference the holding of the 4th International Exhibition of Paper, Cardboard, Cellulose Depots and Related Machines from June 21 to June 25 and stated, “The producers of Writing paper should pay 9% VAT, but importers are exempted. Also last year, foreign currencies with governmental exchange were allocated to imported paper, which has made it more competitive for producers. Therefore, the situation of writing paper production in the country is not suitable.”According to him, in such circumstances, the change in the type of currency allocated to the import of paper from government exchange rate to the NIMA currencies, as well as the inadequacy of domestic production, has increased the price of writing paper in the country.”The head of the Paper and Cardboard Syndicate further announced the decrease in the country’s need for newsprint paper in recent years due to the expansion of social networks and said, “The country’s need for newsprint paper has increased from 120,000 Tomans in the last 10 years to about between 30,000 and 40,000 Tomans.”Stating that the country’s annual need for packaging paper is 850,000 tons, Roghani said: “We have an annual production of 1.6 million tons, and the surplus production is exported to various countries, including Europe, Asia and the countries bordering the Persian Gulf. The reason for the appropriate production in this sector is the supply of good technologies and modern machinery in the country, which has caused factories such as wood and paper in Mazandaran to export to Germany, Finland and the United Kingdom in recent years.”However, according to the head of the Paper and Cardboard Syndicate, due to the non-approval of the AFTF, part of the export is done informally and exact statistics in this regard are not available.Two sides of the coin regarding sanctionsHe further said, “The imposition of sanctions and the increase in the exchange rate have increased the success and reliance on domestic products in the field of paper and cardboard, and today the domestic companies in this industry are in a good situation.” He continued, “If the JCPOA is implemented, it will be beneficial for the society, but if it leads to the opening of the country’s doors to imports, it will harm production.”The problem of supplying raw materials for paper production unitsReferring to the activities of 120 factories in the field of paper production, he said: “Except for the supply of raw materials (carton and wastepaper), they do not face any particular problem. At present, about 900,000 tons of wastepaper is supplied domestically and about one million tons are needed to be imported, of which between 60 and 80% of which is imported from Iraq and the rest from Afghanistan, Turkey and some other countries. But the problem with imports is the strict regulations of the Environmental Protection Organization.”Concerning the supply and allocation of currency, Roghani Golpayegani also said, “Although until four months ago there were serious problems for all industries, but now there are foreign currencies at NIMA and free exchange rate for the supply of raw materials.”Paper consumption in Iran is less than half of EuropeAccording to him, now the per capita consumption of all types of paper in our country is 22 kg, in Europe 55 kg and in the United States 160 kg. The annual consumption of textbook paper is 40,000 tons. Also, 120,000 tons of sanitary paper is annually consumed in the country, which is likely to increase after the corona, but the production in this area is more than 200,000 tons.The member of the Industries Commission of the Iran Chamber of Commerce and Industry said, ” In the machines required for active medium and large industries in this industry, we have no advantage for localization in the country and 100% of the machines are imported, but in small industries, especially cellulose industries, it is possible to build and internalize machines.”The world is moving towards paper production from recyclingHe further stated, “In our country, paper is produced from limestone, wood, straw, sugarcane stalks and recycled materials, but the general success in the world is to move towards paper production from recycled materials (OCC). Moreover, paper production from stone is not environmentally friendly due to the use of plastic in the paper.”Afterwards “Reza Omidi” pointed to holding the 4th International Exhibition of Paper, Cardboard, Cellulose Products and Related Machinery and said, “This exhibition will be held from June 21 to June 25 of this year at the permanent location of Tehran International Exhibitions.”The head of the exhibition headquarters stated, “The exhibition will be held in three halls with an area of 10,000 square meters, which has grown by 100% compared to last year’s exhibition, and an Indian machine-building company will also participate in it.”According to the report, the 19th International Exhibition of Environment, Renewable Energy, Energy Efficiency and Energy Saving will be held simultaneously with the paper and cardboard exhibition with the aim of expressing the country’s environmental achievements and with the participation of domestic and foreign companies.