ASIA-PACIFIC FORESTRY SECTOR OUTLOOK STUDY WORKING SERIES

Working Paper No: APFSOS/WP/35

STATUS, TRENDS AND PROSPECTS FOR NON-WOOD AND RECYCLED FIBRE IN

by

Zhu Zhaohua, Jiang Chunqian, Zhong Maogong, Wang Huafu The International Farm Forestry Training Centre Chinese Academy of Forestry

Forestry Policy and Planning Division, Rome Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, Bangkok

January 1998 Zhu Zhaohua, Jiang Chunqian, Zhong Maogong, Wang Huafu

Status, Trends and Prospects for Non-Wood and Recycled Fibre in China The Asia-Pacific Forestry Sector Outlook Study is being undertaken under the auspices of the Asia-Pacific Forestry Commission.

This report comes under Workplan Number E25.6.

Asia-Pacific Forestry Sector Outlook Study Working Paper Series No: 35

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INFORMATION NOTE ON ASIA-PACIFIC FORESTRY SECTOR OUTLOOK STUDY...... i

1. BACKGROUND...... 1 1.1 Panel Industrial and Non- Resources ...... 1 1.2 Paper-making and Non-wood Fibre Resources...... 2 1.2.1 Introduction...... 2 1.2.2 Development...... 3

2. DEMAND FOR AND UTILIZATION OF NON-WOOD AND RECYCLED FIBRE ... 4 2.1 Wood Budget...... 4 2.2 Forestry Policy ...... 6 2.3 A Broad market of non-wood fibre resources...... 6 2.4 Impact on the Rural Economy...... 7

3. RESOURCES OF NON-WOOD FIBRE IN CHINA...... 7 3.1 Resources of Natural Fibre Plants...... 7 3.2 Agricultural Residues in China ...... 8 3.2.1 Agriculture Harvesting Residues...... 8 3.2.2 Agricultural Processing Residues...... 9 3.3 ...... 11 3.3.1 Bamboo-based Panels ...... 13 3.3.2 Bamboo and paper ...... 14 3.4 Resource and Output of Reeds ...... 14 3.5 The Production and Demand for ...... 15 3.6 The Resources of and Flax Fibre...... 16 3.7 Waste paper...... 16

4. ANALYSIS ON THE SITUATION AND TREND ...... 17 4.1 Paper-making Industry ...... 17 4.1.1 Imbalance Between Supply and Demand of Production ...... 17

5. DEVELOPMENT PREDICTION ...... 20 5.1 Projected Requirements for Paper and ...... 20 5.2 Wood pulp ...... 20 5.3 The Estimated Production of Reeds...... 20 5.4 Prediction on Output and Demand of Bagasse...... 21 5.5 The Prediction of Bamboo Resource and Pulp Outputs...... 21 5.6 Recycled Fibre (Waste Paper) ...... 22 5.7 The Estimated Supply of Different Fibre Materials in 2010...... 22 5.8 The Estimated Supply of Different Fibre Material in 2010 ...... 22 5.9 Artificial Panel Industry ...... 23

6 CONSTRAINTS TO NON-WOOD FIBRE UTILIZATION...... 24 6.1 Paper-making...... 24 6.1.1 Market requirement...... 24 6.1.2 Poor Equipment and Techniques; dominance of small mills ...... 24 6.1.3 Serious Pollution...... 24 6.2 Panel Industry...... 25

Status, Trends and Prospects for Non-Wood and Recycled Fibre in China Zhu Zhaohua, Jiang Chunqian, Zhong Maogong, Wang Huafu

ANNEX 1 - MAIN PHYSICAL AND MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF NON-WOOD FIBRE BASED PARTICLEBOARDS ...... 26

ANNEX 2 - MAIN PHYSICAL AND MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF NON-WOOD FIBRE BASED MDF...... 27

Status, Trends and Prospects for Non-Wood and Recycled Fibre in China Asia-Pacific Forestry Sector Outlook Study Working Paper Series No: 35 i

INFORMATION NOTE ON ASIA-PACIFIC FORESTRY SECTOR OUTLOOK STUDY

At its sixteenth session held in Yangon, Myanmar, in January 1996, the Asia-Pacific Forestry Commission, which has membership open to all governments in the Asia-Pacific region, decided to carry out an outlook study for forestry with horizon year 2010. The study is being coordinated by FAO through its regional office in Bangkok and its Headquarters in Rome, but is being implemented in close partnership with governments, many of which have nominated national focal points. The scope of the study is to look at the main external and sectoral developments in policies, programmes and institutions that will affect the forestry sector and to assess from this the likely direction of its evolution and to present its likely situation in 2010. The study involves assessment of current status but also of trends from the past and the main forces which are shaping those trends and then builds on this to explore future prospects. Working have been contributed or commissioned on a wide range of topics. They fall under the following categories: country profiles, selected in-depth country or sub-regional studies and thematic studies. Working papers are prepared by individual authors or groups of authors on their own professional responsibility; therefore, the opinions expressed in them do not necessarily reflect the views of their employers, the governments of the Asia-Pacific Forestry Commission or of the Food and Agriculture Organization. In preparing the substantive report to be presented at the next session of the Asia-Pacific Forestry Commission early in 1998, material from these working papers will be an important element but will be blended and interpreted alongside a lot of other material. Working papers are being produced and issued as they arrive. Some effort at uniformity of presentation is being attempted but the contents are only minimally edited for style or clarity. FAO welcomes from readers any information which they feel would be useful to the study on the subject of any of the working papers or on any other subject that has importance for the Asia-Pacific forestry sector. Such material can be mailed to the contacts given below from whom further copies of these working papers, as well as more information on the Asia-Pacific Forestry Sector Study, can be obtained:

Rome: Mr. Mafa Chipeta Bangkok: Mr. Patrick Durst Senior Forestry Officer Regional Forestry Officer Policy and Planning Division FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Forestry Department Pacific Food and Agriculture Organization of the Maliwan Mansion United Nations Phra Atit Road Viale delle Terme di Caracalla Bangkok 10200 Rome, 00100, ITALY THAILAND Tel: (39-6) 5705 3506 Tel: (66-2) 281 7844 Fax: (39-6) 5705 5514 Fax: (66-2) 280 0445 Email: Email:

Status, Trends and Prospects for Non-Wood and Recycled Fibre in China Zhu Zhaohua, Jiang Chunqian, Zhong Maogong, Wang Huafu

Status, Trends and Prospects for Non-Wood and Recycled Fibre in China Asia-Pacific Forestry Sector Outlook Study Working Paper Series No: 35 1

1. BACKGROUND

China is a developing country with a total population of 1.2 billion. The forest cover is only 13.92%; per capita standing timber volume is less than 10 m3; and the forest distribution is concentrated in several areas. There is severe mismatch between limited resource and the high population density and between development and protection. The problems facing Chinese forestry are: heavily soil and water erosion, desertification, shortage of water resource, loss and fragmentation of forest habitat, and site degradation of timber plantation. However, the Fourth National Forest Inventory (1989-1993) showed that forest area and stock volume has attained positive increase. Compared to the Third National Forest Inventory, the standing stock increased from 10.57 to 11.785 billion m3. But the timber forest resource faces a crisis: it is estimated that the stock volume of mature forest will decrease from 1.963 billion to 0.875 billion m3 from 1993 to 2010. So the shortage of total timber and particularly of big diameter timber will continue in China. It is estimated that the gap between annual timber demands and supply will be about 50-70 million m3 by 2010.

Non wood fibre resources have the potential to complement wood supplies. They are abundant have short cycles and rapid regeneration, and are of comparatively low price. Thus, non-wood and recycled fibre will play important roles in paper-making and manufacture of artificial panels, as substitutes or complements to wood.

1.1 Panel Industrial and Non-wood Fibre Resources

According to statistical data from the Ministry of Forestry of China, the total output of artificial panels was 16.84 and 12.03 million tons respectively in 1996 and 1995; the output of plywood, fibreboard, particleboard, and other artificial panels is 4,903.2, 2,055, 3,382.8, and 1691.6 thousand tons respectively (Table 1, 2, 3).

Table 1 - The Outputs of Plywood (103 m3)

Common plywood Special plywood Bamboo plywood Total 1996 4745.2 61.5 96.5 4903.2 1995 7304.7 10.8 227.1 7592.6

Table 2 - The Outputs of Fibreboard (103 m3)

Wood-based fibreboard Non-wood fibreboard Total Hard fibreboard (SF) MDF 1996 1,219.6 695.3 140.1 2,055.0 1995 1,791.3 (122.8) 536.9 372.7 2,164.0

Status, Trends and Prospects for Non-Wood and Recycled Fibre in China 2 Zhu Zhaohua, Jiang Chunqian, Zhong Maogong, Wang Huafu

Table 3 - The Outputs of Particleboard (103 m3)

General particleboard Non-wood particleboard Total 1996 3246.9 135.9 3382.8 1995 3110.5 1240.5 4351.0

At present, bagasse and flax residues, which have relatively high fibre content, quality and easy transportation are used widely in wood based panels production. Most mills are in the provinces (Autonomous Regions) of Guangdong, Guangxi, Yunnan, Hunan, Hubei, Sichuan, Heilongjiang and Xinjiang etc. But natural non-wood fibre mills are not widespread in China: there are only some small particleboard mills with annual production of 5 thousand m3 in Hunan Province.

1.2 Paper-making and Non-wood Fibre Resources

1.2.1 Introduction

From 1979 to 1995, the production of paper and paperboard increased from 5.18 million to 24.2 million ton, but the demand for them increased from 5.51 million to 27.08 million tons so that China has to import more to meet the market demand; imports were 1.33 and 3.11 million tons respectively in 1991 and in 1995.

The main raw material for paper and paperboard is non-wood pulp: rice-straw pulp constitutes 40%, bamboo pulp 1.5%, reeds pulp 4.2% and bagasse pulp 2.4%. Wood pulp contributes 12.8% (including imported wood pulp 3.6%). With the development of the national economy, the requirement for paper and paperboard especially for high-quality paper will increase year by year. It is estimated that the demand for paper will reach 35-36 million tons up to 2000 but the production of raw material will only reach 34 million tons. The gap will be met through importation. Even if the production of 34 million tons is reached, the wood pulp can only meet 25% of demand owing to the limit of forest resource. In 2010, the need for paper will be at least 45 million tons and wood pulp will only meet about 33% of it; strategy requires greater use of non-wood material to make adequate paper.

There is rich non-wood resource for paper such as wheat-straw, rice-straw, reeds, bamboo, fibre plants and bagasse. The annual bamboo production is about 10 - 12 million tons but only 10% of that was for paper. The area of cultivated reeds will be 600 thousand ha and the production will reach 5 million tons. At present the total reeds production is 2.5 million tons and the yield is only 4 tons per ha; if the reeds land was improved the production per ha can increase 1-1.5 times. The production of bagasse is about 5,600-7,000 thousand tons but only 11-13% of that can be used for paper making. If joint management between sugar and paper industries could be adopted, the utilization rate of the residues can be increased.

There are many factors to influence the use of non-wood resource for paper: one is the price factor. For example, paper-making in one paper factory in Muchuan county of Sichuan province need timber, bamboo and rice straw for which the prices are 250-300 yuan RMB, 400-500 yuan, and 350 yuan respectively so that the price of bamboo is 60-80% higher than

Status, Trends and Prospects for Non-Wood and Recycled Fibre in China Asia-Pacific Forestry Sector Outlook Study Working Paper Series No: 35 3 timber. Secondly the investment in greater production of raw material is limited: for example, reeds production is about 4.5 tons per ha while it could be 12 tons per ha if the reeds land was improved. However, the cost of improving the land is high (about 3,500-4,500 yuan per ha). Thirdly, transport is also an important restricting factor; fourthly, the management system is also a bottleneck: paper-making enterprises are managed by different departments and there is poor coordination between production and utilization. Finally, backward techniques are a problem: non-wood fibres are only used to make low quality paper with heavy pollution. Tables 1 and 2 show the annual output of paper and paperboard in China.

1.2.2 Development

With the development of market economy, from 1979 to 1995, the production of paper and paperboard increased from 5.18 million to 24.2 million tons equivalent to an annual growth rate of 10.11%. The demand meanwhile increased from 5.51 million to 27.08 million tons (about 10.46% pa) so that China has to import to meet the market demand. Imports of these products were 1.33 and 3.11 million tons respectively in 1991 and in 1995.

The development of paper industries could be divided into 3 stages:

• Using Wood Pulp as Main Raw Material From 1949 To 1957 - At the beginning of 1950s, the guiding principle on “Using wood pulp as principal and straw as subsidiary raw materials” was put forward in the first national paper-making conference. During this period, wood pulp for paper was developed rapidly. Till 1957, the production of machine- processed pulp was 810 thousand tons in China, of which wood pulp constituted 31.2% and non wood pulp 68.8% respectively. • Using Straw Pulp as Priority From 1958 To 1979 - During this period, building small and medium scale enterprises, adopting indigenous and primitive methods and using straw as materials were the main principles. Till 1979, about 3,700 paper factories were established and the paper and paperboard production reached 5,185 thousand tons of which straw pulp was 4,895 thousand tons (94%). • Both Wood and Straw Pulp Were Developed - In 1980, “Developing both wood and straw pulp production in the light of local conditions and strengthening the raw material base” was drafted as a principle. Raw material bases with the area of 510 thousand ha for reeds and bamboo pulp were established by 1994. By 1995, there were about 6,000 paper- making enterprises in China with the production of 21,000 thousand tons of which 2,080 thousand tons wood pulp (10%) and 10,780 thousand tons non-wood pulp (51%)1 (Table 4).

The straw of rice and wheat are main non-wood fibre resources for pulp which accounted for 45% of total pulp, and the pulp of reeds, bamboo, and bagasse was 8.86%.

But there are also some technical disadvantages of using agriculture residues in the paper industry. For example, the rice hull contains poor quality fibre and high silica so that it is difficult to use in the artificial panel industry on a large scale. Now the most important agriculture residues applied in the panel industries are bagasse and flax.

1 With wood and non-wood pulp appearing to account for a total of only 61% of paper output, the rest (nearly 40%) must largely be from recovered paper fibre (editor).

Status, Trends and Prospects for Non-Wood and Recycled Fibre in China 4 Zhu Zhaohua, Jiang Chunqian, Zhong Maogong, Wang Huafu

The percentage of waste paper in the pulp is increasing year by year and it increased from 4.05 million tons (27%) in 1991 to 7.6 million tons (33.51%) in 1995, waste hemp and cotton was 31.25%. It is expected that waste paper consumption will continuously increase in the future owing to the low cost and less pollution.

In Henan province in 1994, the production of paper and paperboard was 3.6 million tons using non-wood resources such as wheat straw, cotton straw, and hemp and flax as main material.

Table 4 - The number of pulp, paper, and paperboard mills from 1991-1994

Paper-making mills Pulp mills 1991 5,560 88 1992 5,622 90 1993 5,649 156 1994 5,909 158

At present, the annual imported paper, paperboard, and wood pulp reach 2.5 million tons at a cost of US$3 billion.

At present, there are about 24 panel mills which use bagasse as raw materials and the total annual capacity reaches 150 thousand tons in China. Among them, there are 14 mills with annual capacity 5,000 m3 and 10 mills with annual capacity 10,000 m3. Although most of the agriculture residues were used for fuel and fertilizer, they have good potential to the paper and panels industries. In 1994, the output of artificial panels using non-wood fibre resources accounted for 15 - 25% of total production.

2. DEMAND FOR AND UTILIZATION OF NON-WOOD AND RECYCLED FIBRE

2.1 Wood Budget

According to the analysis by the Chinese Academy of Social Science, the population of China will be 1.3 billion in 2000 and it will reach 1.4 billion in 2010; the GDP will be 4,185.7 and 8,626.9 billion Chinese yuan respectively. Based on methods which link population and GNP growth to timber consumption, the timber requirement and supply in 2000 and 2010 is predicted as follows:

Status, Trends and Prospects for Non-Wood and Recycled Fibre in China Asia-Pacific Forestry Sector Outlook Study Working Paper Series No: 35 5

Table 5 - Projected gross demand and supply of industrial timber (million m3)

Year Timber requirement Timber supply 2000 160–165 139-150 2010 180-230 159-180

To derive the data in Table 5, it is assumed that 1 m3 plywood, particleboard, hard fibreboard, and medium density fibreboard production will need 2.8, 1.4, 2.6, 1.8 m3 wood. The estimated future demand of panels and wood raw material requirement have been worked out by the Chinese Academy of Forestry. If demand is to be met entirely by wood, the wood raw material requirement will be as in Table 6.

Table 6 - Projected demand, production and capacity for panel products (103 M3)2

Year Plywood Particleboar Fibreboard Total Wood raw d material requirement 2000 (demand) 1,588.4 2,078.0 2,528.8 6,195.2 12,559.4 2010 (production) 3,600-4,500 3,600-4,500 4,800-6,000 12,000-15,000 2010 (capacity) 4,500-5,400 4,500-5,400 6,000-7,200 15,000-18,000

According to the above-mentioned assumption, the Ministry of Forestry of China also estimated the demands of artificial panels and wood raw material requirements in 2,000 and 2,010 (Table 7 ).

Table 7 - Projected demand for panels and wood raw material needs (103 M3)

Year Plywood Particleboard Fibreboard Total Wood raw material requirement MDF HF 2000 2,900-3,200 2,750-3,060 2,050-2,280 1,300-1,450 9,000-10,000 19,040-21,118 2010 3,820-4,120 4,600-4,960 2,900-3,120 1,670-1,800 13,000-14,000 26,698-28,776

From several studies conducted, the demand and supply of wood pulp will be as in Table 8; it assumed that 4 m3 wood is required to manufacture 1 ton pulp.

3 Table 8 - Projected demand and supply of wood pulp (10 ton)

Year Proportion of Wood pulp Timber raw material Wood pulp supply Percentage wood pulp demand requirement (million (include imported (%) (%) m3) wood pulp) 2000 25 8,000 32 6,750 22 2010 33 14,850 59.4 14,000 33

2 There are three Working Papers related to China APFSOS/WP/14, APFSOS/WP/35, APFSOS/WP/40(a) and APFSOS/WP/40(b). The projections they give many not be the same due to different studies they quote. In case of divergence, the reference numbers in APFSOS/WP/14 should be preferred (Editor).

Status, Trends and Prospects for Non-Wood and Recycled Fibre in China 6 Zhu Zhaohua, Jiang Chunqian, Zhong Maogong, Wang Huafu

2.2 Forestry Policy

In order to mitigate the critical shortage of wood supply, alleviate the pressure of timber production forest, the priority of China forestry is to implement both environmental (ecological) and industrial forestry. The main tasks of forestry ecological system are:

• Three-north Shelter Development Programme: The programme is divided into 3 stages. The first stage from 1978 to 2000, the second from 2001 to 2020 and third from 2021 to 2050. A total of 35 million ha. forest are to be planted under this programme. • Coastal Shelterbelt Programme: By the year 2010, the multi-forest type, multi species, and multi-function shelterbelt system will be established and 3.55 million ha. plantations are to be built. • Plain Afforestation Programme: This plan is to make all of the 915 counties reach the green standards issued by the Ministry of Forestry. • The Taihang Mountain afforestation Programme: By the year 2000, 3.299 million ha forest will be established. • The Combating Desertification Programme. • Soil and Water Conservation Forests along the upper and middle reaches of the Yangtze River: This programme is divided into 2 phases. The first phase, from 1990 to the 2000, is targeted to increase 6.66 million ha. forests. The second phase is planned to plant 13.34 million ha. within a period of 20-30 years. • Soil and Water Conservation Forests along the middle Reaches of the Yellow River: By the year 2000, 1.05 million ha plantation will be built. From 2001 to 2020, 2.10 million ha plantation is to be planted. • Integrated conservation Forests along the Reaches of the Huaihe River and Taihu Lake: By 2000, 728 thousand ha forest will be built. From 2001 to 2010, 319 thousand ha forest will be established. • Integrated Conservation Forest along the Reaches of Zhujiang River: By 2010, 1.2 million ha forest will be established. • Conservation Forest along the Reaches of Liaohe River: By 2010, 1.2 million ha forest will be built.

In addition, China will pay more attention to the establishment of timber raw material forests to solve the shortage of timber. By 2000, China decide to establish 6.66 million ha of fast- growing and high-yielding timber forests, some to supply raw materials for artificial panels and paper-making, and create some forests with valuable and big-diameter trees.

2.3 A Broad market of non-wood fibre resources

In comparison with other countries, the development of non-wood fibre materials in China has the following advantages:

• Large market: it is estimated that the total demand for wood-based panels in China will get to 13 -14 million m3 by 2010 year. In 1994 the production of artificial panels was 6.22 million m3 and the import of panels was 2.24 million m3. • Rich Resources: (Section 3).

Status, Trends and Prospects for Non-Wood and Recycled Fibre in China Asia-Pacific Forestry Sector Outlook Study Working Paper Series No: 35 7

• Lower cost: the cost of producing 1 m3 particleboard will be lower 60-120 yuan (RMB) than that of wood. • Some agricultural crops are comparatively concentrated in the some areas and easy to collect: examples are leaf tobacco planted in Henan and Yunan Provinces, wheat, maize and bean planted in Helongjiang Province, bagasse planted in Guangdong and Guangxi Provinces, and cotton planted in the provinces of Xinjiang, Hubei, Hebei and Shandong etc. For example, In Helongjiang province and Xingjiang autonomous region, there are some big farms with the area of from 0.5-1.5 million ha. In sugarcane growing areas of Guangdong province, bagasses were produced in some factories so that it is easy to transport. • A set of mature techniques: Both technology and equipment can be supplied by the country to produce the quality products with annual 30 thousand m3 in these factories of above provinces. • Support and encouragement by the governments at all levels: because the development of non-wood based panels can gain better economic, social and ecological benefits.

2.4 Impact on the Rural Economy

In some provinces with high intensity of crops and less density of population such as Helongjiang, Jilin and Xingjiang, the main benefits to the rural economy by using non-wood fibre materials are as follows:

• Income: the establishment of artificial panels plant bring about a good economic benefits. For example, a particleboard plant with annual output of 30 thousand m3 generates income of about 6 million yuan RMB. Furthermore, the farmer can get income about 1 million yuan RMB through selling 10,000 tons of grain straw in markets and part of the income from industry could be invested into agricultural development so as to develop its production • Increasing the employment for the rural people. • Environment: the cutting of wood is decreased, forest resources and the environment are protected.

3. RESOURCES OF NON-WOOD FIBRE IN CHINA

The four main fibre material resources of non-wood plants are the following: natural non- wood fibre resources; bamboo; agricultural residues; and recycled fibre (waste paper).

3.1 Resources of Natural Fibre Plants

Non-wood fibre resources other than bamboo, trattan, reeds and those of agricultural residue origin are called natural non wood fibre resources. Although there is some cultivated areas for industrial purpose, most of them are wild.

Roots, stems, leaf and bark for different wild fibre plants contain fibre which can be used for spinning fabric, making paper and others. Besides fibre use, many branches and canes of fibre

Status, Trends and Prospects for Non-Wood and Recycled Fibre in China 8 Zhu Zhaohua, Jiang Chunqian, Zhong Maogong, Wang Huafu plants can be used for weaving goods of daily life and handicraft. Fibre plants are also widely used for industrial raw materials.

Grass and timber fibres have for long been used for making paper. Since the Qin and Han dynasty, flax has been used for spinning grass cloth. At present, wild fibre and other fibres generating different cotton, flax and polyester fibres have been spun into many new types of cloth, which opened a new way for the modern textile industry. Wild fibre, besides being used for making ordinary paper, can be also used for making high-grade paper, wrapping paper, advertisement paper and wall paper for building decorations and for making artificial silk, cotton powder, no-smoking powder, plastic, spray paint and other industrial chemical products.

According to inventory, more than 1,000 species of fibre plants have been developed or tried, of which about 100 species of fibre plants are used widely for weaving and paper-making. The following are some grasses and shrubs for paper production: Typha latifolia L., Deyeuxia angustifolia (Kom.) Chang, Eulaliopsis binata (Retz.) C.E. Hubbard, Miscanthus sinensis andorss, Iris ensata Thunb, Pteroceltis tatarinowii Maxim, Lespedeza bicolor Turcz, and Hibiscus cannabinus.

The bark of Pteroceltis tatarinowii is raw material of Xuan paper which is the famous traditional handwriting paper in China.

3.2 Agricultural Residues in China

The agriculture residues include both those from harvesting and from agricultural processing. It was estimated that the total area of main crops is 114.888 million ha. and the total of residues is 419.875 million tons in 1994. The fibre contents of agriculture residues are about 35%-55%3.

3.2.1 Agriculture Harvesting Residues

The agricultural harvesting residues are the crop stalks which include: the straws of wheat, rice, cotton, maize, beans, tobacco, sunflower, other grain and rape etc. In 1994, the total production of these residues in the whole country was about 386.02 million tons. With the fibre content in these agricultural residues being between 35-55% (near to fibre contents of broad-leaved tree species), they are not only a most important potential fibre material resource, but also good substitutes for wood.

3 These numbers give an average gross residues yield of 3.65 tons/ha of residues, of which the fibre content is 1.28-2.01 tons/ha (Editor).

Status, Trends and Prospects for Non-Wood and Recycled Fibre in China Asia-Pacific Forestry Sector Outlook Study Working Paper Series No: 35 9

3.2.2 Agricultural Processing Residues

The wastes after agricultural products are processed are called Agricultural Processing Residues. They include bagasse, hemp and flax residue, rice husk and peanut crust. It is easy to collect and transport this type of raw material because it is already mainly stocked in the factories. The output of agriculture processing residuals was 22.3 million tonnes in 1994 (or nearly 6% of harvest residue in quantity).

Table 9 - The Areas of Main Crops and the Output of Main Agriculture Residues in 1994

Area Output of Residues ‘000 ha % ‘000 tons % Wheat straw 28,981 25.2 108,679 25.9 Rice Rice straw 30,172 26.3 113,145 26.9 Rice hull - - 13,578 3.2 Cotton stalk 5,528 4.8 24,876 6.4 Maize stalk 21,152 18.4 95,184 22.7 Sorghum stalk 1,368 1.2 6,156 1.5 Sunflower stalk 804 0.7 3,618 0.9 Tobacco stalk 1,489 1.3 4,467 1.1 Millet straw 1,672 1.5 5,016 1.2 Bagasse 1,056 0.9 4,752 1.1 Hemp 371 0.3 1,113 0.3 Peanut hull 3,776 3.3 283 0.7 Beans straw 12,736 11.1 19,104 4.5 Rape straw 5,783 5.0 17,355 4.1 Total 114,888 100 419,875 100

The annual production of pulp from rice straw and wheat straw was about 8,516 thousand tons which was 47.69% of total pulp production. The rate of pulp-produced from rice and wheat straw is 39.9%. From 1990 to 1994 the annual production of rice and wheat straw was 10,3693 thousand tons and the production of rice and wheat straw pulp was 8,000 thousand tons with the consumption of straw raw material 20,512 thousand tons which is 19.7% of total rice and wheat straw. The utilization of rice and wheat straw is concentrated in some province such as Henan, Hebei, and Hubei etc. Because of heavy pollution and transportation constraints, the development of rice and wheat straw for paper will be limited; by 2000, the proportion of rice and wheat straw pulp is expected to be only 27%.

Status, Trends and Prospects for Non-Wood and Recycled Fibre in China Table 10 - The Resource Changes Over the Years (103 ha, 103 tons)

Rice Wheat Cotton Area Straw output Area Straw output Area Straw output 103 ha Index 103 t 103 ha Index 103 t 103 ha Index 103 t 1900 33755.3 100 62447.3 28844.4 100 43266.6 4920.2 100 12300.6 1985 32070.1 95 59329.7 29218.1 101 43827.1 5140.3 104 12850.25 1988 31987.4 95 59176.7 28784.7 100 43177.0 5534.7 112 13836.83 1990 32700.4 97 60495.8 29841.4 103 44762.1 5588.1 114 13970.25 1991 33064.4 98 61169.1 30753.2 107 46129.8 6538.5 133 16346.25 1992 32090.2 95 59367.0 30495.8 106 45743.7 6835.0 139 17087.5 1993 30355.0 90 56156.8 30235.0 105 45352.5 6285.3 128 15713.42 1994 30171.5 89 55817.3 28980.7 100 43471.1 5528.0 112 13820.07 1995 Asia-Pacific Forestry Sector Outlook Study Working Paper Series No: 35 11

3.3 Bamboo

China is one of the key native homes and sources of modern distribution for in the world; where there are more than 500 bamboo species covering over 7 million hectares. Bamboo is one of the important raw materials for industry and handicraft in south China. According to statistics, the output and value of bamboo products in 1992 were as follows: 200 thousand tons of machine-made bamboo pulp, 0.169 billion pieces of bamboo farm tools; the output value of bamboo woven products was 79.3 million yuan RMB. The bamboo pulp production in China is maintained at the level of about 250,000 tons annually (see Table 14).

Table 11 - Bamboo Resource in China

Province Bamboo Area Moso Bamboo (Phyllostachys Other Species (10 thousand ha) heterocycla var. Pubescens (10 (10 thousand ha) thousand ha) SiChuan 74.00 1.90 72.10 Fujian 62.79 59.20 3.59 Hunan 61.20 57.10 4.10 Zhejing 59.82 54.40 5.42 Jiangxi 53.40 52.93 0.47 Guangdong 31.8 10.81 20.99 Anhui 17.63 15.17 2.46 Taiwan 17.56 0.33 17.23 Guangxi 16.32 9.51 6.81 Shannxi 13.45 0.33 13.42 Yunnan 10.20 0.33 10.17 Hubei 8.75 6.22 2.53 Hainan 5.39 -- 5.39 Guizhou 4.43 2.00 2.43 Jiangsu 4.00 2.00 2.00 Henan 1.67 0.20 1.47 Shandong 0.18 0.01 0.17 Shanxi 0.02 -- 0.02 TOTAL 442.61 271.84 (61%) 170.77 (39%)

Status, Trends and Prospects for Non-Wood and Recycled Fibre in China Table 12 - The Change of Bamboo Resource (103 ha, 103 tons)

Year Total resource Moso bamboo Other bamboo Area Stand Volume Area Stand Volume Area Stand Volume Individual Weigh plants (million) 103 ha Index 103 ha Index 103 ha Index 103 ha Index 103 ha Index 103 ha Index 1977-1981 3199.6 100 64943 100 2496.6 100 35796 53695 100 703 100 11248 100 1983-1988 3546.3 111 76288 117 2526.4 101 39978 59970 112 1019.9 145 16318 145 1989-1993 3790.8 118 95731 147 2602.3 104 499537 74931 139 1189.5 169 20800 185 Asia-Pacific Forestry Sector Outlook Study Working Paper Series No: 35 13

Table 13 - The change of bamboo production (103 tons)

Total production Moso bamboo production Other bamboo Weight Index 1985 4,891 100 3,764 1,127 1986 5,279 108 4,091 1,188 1987 5,771 118 4,518 1,253 1988 6,654 136 5,318 1,336 1989 6,513 133 5,062 1,451 1990 6,443 132 4,981 1,462 1991 7,108 145 5,529 1,579 1992 8,103 166 6,511 1,592 1993 9,030 185 7,380 1,650 1994 9,265 189 7,505 1,760

Table 14 - The Output and consumption of Bamboo Pulp from 1985 to 1995 (103 tons)

Year 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 Pulp Output 128 139 144 157 156 164 170 180 160 190 350 Bamboo Consumption* 348 417 432 471 468 492 510 540 480 570 1,050 * Raw material equivalent.

The main bamboo species are Phyllostachys pubescens, Bambusa textilis, Dendrocalamus latiflorus, Neosinocalamus affinis, Pseudosasa amabilis, Ph. Nuda, Ph. Glauca, Ph. Viridis, Ph. Bambusoides, and Ph. Iridenscens etc.

3.3.1 Bamboo-based Panels

The research and development of the bamboo-based panels in China started in 1970s and the first phase product was bamboo plywood. After several decades, with research on the structure, physical, mechanical and chemical properties of bamboo, a number of other bamboo products were developed of which the main products put into production are: bamboo strip plywood, bamboo curtain laminated board, paper-overlaid bamboo curtain plywood, bamboo particleboard, rotary bamboo thin veneer, and bamboo-timber composite board. There are also some products that have been manufactured successfully, but not officially put into production such as bamboo fibreboard, cement-bonded bamboo particleboard, bamboo-plaster particleboard etc. Data on these products are in Table 15.

Status, Trends and Prospects for Non-Wood and Recycled Fibre in China 14 Zhu Zhaohua, Jiang Chunqian, Zhong Maogong, Wang Huafu

Table 15 - The production of bamboo-based panels in China*

Annual No. of mills Price in the Value (103 production (m3) market (yuan/m3) yuan) Bamboo mat plywood 90,000 90 2,800 252,000 Bamboo curtain plywood 40,000 30 2,800 112,000 Bamboo strip plywood 30,000 24 4,000 120,000 Bamboo strip laminated 25,000 20 2,800 70,000 plywood Bamboo based particleboard 15,000 20 1,200 37,000 Bamboo floorboard 20,000 30 3,700 74,000 Bamboo based molded board 5,000 10 - - Total 225,000 224 - 665,000 * the figures are from Prof. Zhu Huanming from the Chinese Academy of Forestry.

3.3.2 Bamboo pulp and paper

About 1,700 years ago, Chinese people began to manufacture bamboo-based paper. The traditional method is: tenderize bamboo, pulverize, lime, solarize, bleach, dry the paper. Bamboos of Phyllostachys, Pleioblastus, Bambusa, Dendrocalamus, Neosinocalamus, Chimonobambusa etc. varieties are used as raw material for paper-making; 1 year-old bamboo stems are used as raw material in the traditional methods while 3-5 year-old bamboos are used in mechanical pulp. Different paper products can be produced depending upon proportion of bamboo pulp. From 1991 to 1994, the annual bamboo pulp was only 175 thousand tons that is only 0.95% of total pulp in China with the bamboo consumption of 525 thousand tons (i.e. 3 tons bamboo per ton of pulp). In 1995, the production of bamboo pulp increased to 350 thousand tons that is 1.54% of total pulp.

Table 16 - The Bamboo Production from 1985 to 1995 (103 tons)

Year The Production of Bamboo Pulp Bamboo consumption 1985 1,280 3,480 1986 1,390 4,170 1987 1,440 4,320 1988 1,570 4,710 1989 1,560 4,650 1990 1,640 4,920 1991 1,700 5,100 1992 1,800 5,400 1993 1,600 4,800 1994 1,900 5,700 1995 3,500 10,500

The annual bamboo consumption for paper is about 1.3-1.6 million tons which is 12%-15% of total bamboo production.

3.4 Resource and Output of Reeds

Status, Trends and Prospects for Non-Wood and Recycled Fibre in China Asia-Pacific Forestry Sector Outlook Study Working Paper Series No: 35 15

Reeds are an important raw material for paper and panel industries. The planted area increases year by year. From 1991 to 1995, annual outputs of reeds pulp was 920 thousand tons which constituted 5.15% of total pulp output and was about five times the quantity of bamboo pulp. In 1995, total reeds output was 2,560 thousand tons and 2,375 tons of them was used for pulp4. According the statistics, reed plantations totalling 854 thousand ha for paper and panel industries were established, of which by 1995, 510 thousand ha, with output of 1950 thousand tons were put into production. At the present, the average yield per unit is low at only 1.65 ton per ha in 66% of the total area. In Hunan province, however, the yield per ha reached 11 tons which shows the great potential to increase total output of reeds in China. Table 17 shows steadily increasing area of reeds and faster expansion of the area used. Output has been growing much faster than area of reeds.

Table 17 - The Outline of Main Reeds Sources in 11 Provinces of China (103 ha, 103 tons)

Year Total area Area of used reeds Output Supply Area Index Area Index 1985 791.33 100 442.67 1,360.0 1,190.0 100 1987 806.89 102 471.41 1,473.7 1,232.4 103 1988 809.84 102 483.30 1,625.8 1,409.3 118 1989 811.87 103 488.68 1,659.7 1,469.6 123 1990 849.67 107 481.65 1,662.3 1,352.2 114 1991 849.44 107 485.51 1,693.0 1,364.9 115 1992 850.00 107 488.00 1,732.0 1,420.3 119 1995 854.00 108 510.00 1,950.0 1,657.0 139

3.5 The Production and Demand for Bagasse

Bagasse is the fibre residue left after extraction of sugar from sugarcane; 1.13 tons of bagasse is produced for each 21 tons of sugar. The yield of pulp produced from bagasse is 39%. From 1984 to 1994, the area of sugarcane expanded from 965 thousand ha to 1,065 thousand ha and the production of sugarcane also increased from 51.549 to 60.926 million tons. About 80% of total sugarcane was used to process sugar. In 1992, the area of sugarcane was 1,246 thousand ha and the production was 70,311 thousand tons with the production of bagasse 7,419 thousand tons.

Table 18 gives the data of output of bagasse and bagasse pulp, showing that about a sixth of total bagasse output is pulped.

4 A yield of about 920,000 tons of pulp from this volume suggests a conversion ratio of nearly 3.6 tons of reeds per ton of pulp (editor).

Status, Trends and Prospects for Non-Wood and Recycled Fibre in China 16 Zhu Zhaohua, Jiang Chunqian, Zhong Maogong, Wang Huafu

Table 18 - The Output of Bagasse and Bagasse Pulp5 in the Past Years (103 ha, 103 tons)

Year the area of cultivation Yield of sugarcane Output of Supply for pulp Output of bagasse pulp bagasse Sugar Area Index Quantity Index Weight % total Area Index bagasse 1985 965 100 51,549 100 4,090.6 628.7 15 245.2 100 1986 950 98 50,219 97 4,915.3 658.2 13 256.6 105 1987 859 89 47,363 92 4,836.4 658.9 14 256.9 105 1988 924 96 49,064 95 4,237.5 676.9 16 263.9 108 1989 959 99 48,795 95 4,316.6 705.1 16 275.0 112 1990 1,009 105 57,620 112 5,356.2 717.9 13 280.0 114 1991 1,164 121 67,898 132 5,491.8 743.5 14 290.0 118 1992 1,246 129 73,011 142 7,419.6 871.8 12 340.0 139 1993 1,088 113 64,194 124 7,073.8 769.2 11 300.0 122 1994 1,057 109 60,927 118 5,621.7 897.4 16 350.0 143

3.6 The Resources of Hemp and Flax Fibre

Hemp and flax fibre is traditionally used for gunny bags and gunny cloth. In recent years, with the development of substitutes (artificial fibre), sales of hemp and flax have decreased; this gives an opportunity to use them as raw material for paper. The main source of hemp fibre is kenaf. There are some paper mills used kenaf as raw material for paper but this is relatively difficult to find. Waste gunnysacks are the main source of pulp made from hemp and flax fibre. The cultivation area of kenaf is influenced heavily by the flax industry. Kenaf could be planted in most of China except Tibet. The production of kenaf in Anhui and Henan province is higher than other provinces in China. Table 19 shows that the area under kenaf had, by 1994, declined to less than a fifth of that in 1985; kenaf output decreased to match during this period.

Table 19 - The Cultivation Areas and Output of Kenaf (103 ha, 103 tons)

1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 Area 991 345 272 277 286 300 270 277 274 175.7 Output 2,060 710 569 540 660 726 513 619 672 354.9

3.7 Waste paper

The utilization of waste paper is receiving more attention in the world owing to the desire for greater environment protection. The consumption of pulp from waster paper increased from 4,050 thousand tons to 7,600 thousand tons from 1991 to 1995.

5 Approximate ratios of sugar case to bagasse are 10-13 tons cane per ton bagasse; the ratio for pulp is around 2.6 tons bagasse per ton pulp (editor).

Status, Trends and Prospects for Non-Wood and Recycled Fibre in China Asia-Pacific Forestry Sector Outlook Study Working Paper Series No: 35 17

Table 20 - The Annual Consumption of Waste Paper and Percentage of Total Pulp Consumption from 1991 to 1995 (‘000 tons)

Total waste paper pulp Imported part consumption 1991 Consumption 4,050 620 Percentage* 27.0 4.13 1992 Consumption 4,900 630 Percentage 28.0 4.80 1993 Consumption 5,400 480 Percentage 28.47 2.6 1994 Consumption 6,300 590 Percentage 29.17 2.71 1995 Consumption 7,600 770 Percentage 33.51 3.39 * % in paper-making fibre mix.

In 1993, the recycling, utilization, import, and export of waste paper were 4,461, 5,249, 604, and 16 thousand tons respectively. From Table 20, it may be noted that the imported share of waste paper pulp which was about 15% in 1991 declined to only 9% by 1993 and 10% by 1995; the rest was domestic waste paper pulp.

4. ANALYSIS ON THE SITUATION AND TREND

4.1 Paper-making Industry

4.1.1 Imbalance Between Supply and Demand of Production

4.1.1.1 The Amount of Consumption Surpasses That of Production in Paper and Paperboard

From 1980 to 1989, the average annual production of paper and paperboard was 8,960.8 thousand tons and the average annual consumption was 9,553.2 thousand tons so that the deficit was 592.4 thousand tons (some 6% of consumption). From 1990 to 1995, annual average production and consumption were 18,771.7 and 20,523.1 thousand tons respectively and the deficit rose to over 8% of consumption that had itself more than doubled. In 1995, the pulp production was 21,000 thousand tons, of which 2,080 thousand tons (some 10%) was made from wood and 10,780 tons (just over half) from non-wood6.

6 These estimates differ somewhat from China data released in the FAO Yearbook of Forest Products. In 1995, wood pulp output is reported at 2651 thousand mt and non-wood at 17,551 thousand mt (a repeat of the 1994 official estimate, for lack of new data) (editor).

Status, Trends and Prospects for Non-Wood and Recycled Fibre in China 18 Zhu Zhaohua, Jiang Chunqian, Zhong Maogong, Wang Huafu

Table 22 - The Outputs of Pulp, Paper and Paperboard over the years (103 tons) (all numbers rounded off)

Pulp Paper and Paperboard Annual consumption Output Machine processed Output Machine per capita processed Quantity Index Quantity Index Quantity Index Quantity Index (kg) 1979 4,895 100 3,929 100 5,180 100 4,928 100 5.65 1980 5,331 109 4,263 109 5,626 109 5,346 108 6.29 1981 5,631 115 4,063 103 5,693 110 5,402 110 6.21 1982 5,971 122 4,211 107 6,138 118 5,890 119 6.37 1983 6,195 127 4,589 117 6,839 132 6,613 134 7.04 1984 6,648 136 5,146 131 7,765 150 7,559 153 7.94 1985 7,204 147 6,152 157 9,308 180 9,112 185 9.45 1986 8,751 179 6,791 173 10,164 196 9,986 203 10.48 1987 10,968 224 9,695 247 11,645 225 11,410 231 11.72 1988 10,975 224 8,726 222 12,900 249 1,270 257 12.25 1989 11,865 242 8,686 221 13,530 261 13,332 270 12.57 1990 12,302 251 8,350 213 13,918 289 13,719 278 12.79 1991 12,936 264 8,606 219 14,987 337 14,787 300 13.89 1992 14,462 295 10,318 263 17,450 337 17,250 350 16.86 1993 17,980 367 13,640 347 19,340 373 19,140 388 16.50 1994 20,200 413 15,884 404 22,412 433 21,383 433 18.40 1995 21,090 431 13,840 352 24,200 467 24,000 487 21.00

4.1.1.2 Irrational paper product structure

An important aspect of imbalance is the shortage of high quality products made from wood pulp which lead to dependence on the importation. A the same time, quality products made from straw pulp are unsalable.

4.1.1.3 Non Wood as Main Raw Materials

There is a shortage of forest resource in China and the timber cannot meet the demand so that the proportion of wood pulp in paper-making decreases year by year. Among the non-wood fibre pulp, rice and wheat pulp constitute over 45%. The pulp output of reeds, bamboo and bagasse was 1,330 thousand tons in 1991 and increased to 1,850 thousand tons by 1995, an increase of 39% in only 4 years. The proportion of pulp from waste paper increased year by year. Table 23 shows the structure of pulp.

Status, Trends and Prospects for Non-Wood and Recycled Fibre in China Asia-Pacific Forestry Sector Outlook Study Working Paper Series No: 35 19

Table 22 - Output of pulp, paper and paperboard in 1994 (103)7 Pulp Production Paper Production Paperboard Production % Total 15,884.5 Total 13,194.4 Total 8,188.4 1.Sulphite pulp 544.1 733 Felt paper 119.7 Wood pulp 88.7 Industrial 82.3 paperboard Straw pulp 231.3 Packing 3,682.4 board Bagasse pulp - 2. Sulphate 6,659.7 Wood pulp 893.6 Straw pulp 461.9 Bagasse pulp 131.5 Bamboo pulp 129.4 Waste hemp and cotton 77.4 Straw pulp 1,777.7 Waste paper pulp 359.1 3. Mechanical pulp 496.7 4. Sodium sulphite pulp 90.2 5.Ammonium sulphite pulp 339.3 6.Other methods pulp 201.4 7. Other kinds pulp 193.6 8. Raw pulp 5,817.7

Table 23 - The structure of pulp fibre from 1991 to 1995 (103 tons) Pulp fibres 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 Used Percent Used percent Used Percent Used Percent Used Percent Annual 15,000 100 17,500 100 18,970 100 21,600 100 22,68 100 consumption 0 Wood pulp 2,100 14 2,290 13.09 2,280 12.00 2,640 12.22 2,900 12.79 Local 1,500 10 1,640 9.37 1,770 9.33 1,830 8.47 2,080 9.17 Imported 600 4 652 3.72 510 2.69 812 3.75 820 3.62 Reeds 870 5.8 900 5.14 850 4.48 1,050 4.86 950 4.19 Bagasse 290 1.33 340 1.94 300 1.58 350 1.62 550 2.43 Bamboo 170 1.13 180 1.03 160 0.84 190 0.88 350 1.54 Straw 6,810 45.4 8,100 46.29 8,920 47.02 9,820 45.46 8,930 39.37 Waste flax and 460 3.07 480 2.74 430 2.27 450 2.08 - - hemp Waste paper 4,050 27.0 4,900 28.0 5,400 28.47 6,300 29.17 7,600 33.51 Local8 3,430 4,270 24.4 4,920 25.9 5,710 26.4 6,830 30.1 Imported 620 4.13 630 4.80 480 2.6 590 2.71 770 3.39 Others 250 1.67 310 1.77 630 3.32 800 3.70 1,400 6.17

7 The production of paper and paperboard reported in this table equals only machine-made output for 1994 (See Table 21). Production statistics for handmade paper are difficult to collect reliably.

8 Local output (i.e. wastepaper collection) derived by subtracting imports from total use (editor).

Status, Trends and Prospects for Non-Wood and Recycled Fibre in China 20 Zhu Zhaohua, Jiang Chunqian, Zhong Maogong, Wang Huafu

5. DEVELOPMENT PREDICTION

According to the process and rate of paper industry development since reform and the development of the national economy, it is estimated that the demand of paper and paperboard will be 34,000-36,000 thousand tons and will reach 45,000-50,000 thousand tons by 2000 and 2010 respectively.

5.1 Projected Requirements for Paper and Paperboard

According to consumption from 1979 to 1994, the compound annual increase was about 10.46% which is little less than the growth rate of GNP. From 1995 to 2000, the GNP growth rate is expected to maintain its 8-9% level, which will be little more than the growth of paper and paperboard requirement. Calculated at a 7% growth rate, the amount of demand would be 36,800 thousand tons. It could be also calculated to 36,570 tons by regression equation Y = 472.644 e 0.1004x at a 85% reliability level. The output of paper and paperboard will rise to 34,000 tons according to the state programme in 2000. The deficit will be met by imports from abroad. What follows are predictions on the supply of different types of pulp.

5.2 Wood pulp

From 1991 to 1995, the annual average wood pulp output was about 1,764 thousand tons that is only 9.8% of total pulp production. The irrational structure of paper products resulted from shortage of wood pulp to make high class paper the production of which is less than the demand. By 2000, the demand of paper and paperboard will reach 34 million tons of which the proportion of wood pulp will be 25%. So the demand of wood pulp will be about 8 million tons. According to the assumption that 4 m3 timber converts into 1 ton of pulp, the consumption of timber will be 32 million m3. By 2010, the demand of paper and paperboard will increase to 45 million tons and the proportion of wood pulp will be 33% so that the need of wood pulp will be 14.85 million tons with consequent 59.4 million m3 timber consumption.

5.3 The Estimated Production of Reeds

Following the annual area increment (1.4%) from 1985 to 1995, the estimated annual area increment will be 1.2% from 1995 to 2000 when the area of reeds will reach 541 thousand ha. The projected production of reeds in 2000 and 2010 is presented in table 24.

Status, Trends and Prospects for Non-Wood and Recycled Fibre in China Asia-Pacific Forestry Sector Outlook Study Working Paper Series No: 35 21

Table 24 - Prediction on Reed Production (103 tons)

Area of used Output produced Output produced Total Supply for pulp base in the base in outside base output 1995 510 1,950 610 2,560 2,375 2000 540 2,624 650 3,274 2,783 2010 600 4,200 750 4,950 4,200

5.4 Prediction on Output and Demand of Bagasse

The main production areas of sugar are in Guangdong, Guangxi, Yunnan, Fujian, and Hainan provinces; their production is 90% of total production of China. From 2001 to 2010, the area and production of sugarcane will be 1,320 thousand ha and 83,000 thousand tons and the production of bagasse will be 9,500 thousand ton, 40% of which will be used in pulp production9.

Table 25 - Predicted outputs of bagasse in 2000 and 2010 (103ha, 103 tons)

Year Sugarcane- Output of Bagasse growing area Sugarcane Total Output Used for pulp Quantity % 2000 1,262 77,613 8,640 2,592 30 2010 1,320 83,000 9,500 3,800 40

5.5 The Prediction of Bamboo Resource and Pulp Outputs

Because the timber resource is inadequate, as the demand for artificial panels and paper increases, it is inevitable that the utilization of bamboo for panel and paper should increase. Since the 1990s, the improvement of low yield bamboo plantations has become the main thrust in the development of bamboo resources. During the National Ninth-five Year Plan (1995-2000), China forestry department plans to establish and improve bamboo plantations by an additional area of 1.933 thousand ha and the production of 10.207 million tons. According to a study by the Chinese Academy of Forestry, the predicted bamboo output and pulp is shown in Table 26.

Table 26 - Estimated Output of Bamboo and Bamboo Pulp in 2000 and 2010 (103 ha, 103 tons)

Bamboo Standing Annual Bamboo production Stock area stock production used to make paper volume 2000 4,121 125,975 12,350 3,000 1,170 2010 4,640 186,000 18,230 4,460 1,741

9 However, it may be noted from Table 18 that since 1985, the share of bagasse used for pulp has not exceeded 16% of its total output. It may require policy incentives to raise this rapidly to 40% (editor).

Status, Trends and Prospects for Non-Wood and Recycled Fibre in China 22 Zhu Zhaohua, Jiang Chunqian, Zhong Maogong, Wang Huafu

5.6 Recycled Fibre (Waste Paper)

The level of waste paper use in China is lower than the international level. In recent years, some technologies such as de-inking technology were introduced by coastal areas such as Linbou and Guangzhou etc. By 2000, many waste paper mills will be built and the total capacity is expected to reach 4-5 million tons. The consumption of waste paper will reach 11- 12 million tons. {This suggests a much higher recovered fibre use than observed so far in China - Editor}.

5.7 The Estimated Supply of Different Fibre Materials in 2010

The demand for paper and paperboard is 34 million tons and 1.36 million of it is newsprint. If it is assumed that the production of 1 tons paper and paperboard will consume 0.94 tons of pulp, then consumption of pulp will be 31.96 million tons in 2000. But the national capacity of pulp will only be 28.363 million tons. The balance of 3,579 thousand tons pulp needs import from other countries. Among them, imported wood pulp and waste paper will be 1 million tons respectively.

3 Table 27 - The Estimated Supply of Different Fibre Material in 2000 (10 tons)

Demand Supply Pulp output Percent of type of pulp (home production) Timber (103m3) 32,000 26,000* 5,800 20.45 Reeds 2,723 2,723 1,089 3.84 Bagasse 2,592 2,592 1,029 3.63 Bamboo 3,600 3,600 1,404 4.95 the straw of Rice and 23,100 23,100 9,181 32.37 wheat Waste hemp 1,700 1,700 1,360 4.79 Waste paper 11,000 10,000 8,000 28.26 Others 1,300 1,300 500 1.67 * For timber there is a 6 million m3 deficit (about 19% of demand) while for other fibre, there is no shortfall except for waste paper (about 9%, 1 million tons).

5.8 The Estimated Supply of Different Fibre Material in 2010

The demand of paper and paperboard will be 45 million tons and the need of pulp will be 41.4 million tons. In order to improve the quality and structure of paper and paperboard, the proportion of wood pulp will be increased to 33% of total pulp. At the same time, the high techniques of purified and de-inking will be adopted and the consumption of wastepaper pulp will be increased.

Status, Trends and Prospects for Non-Wood and Recycled Fibre in China Asia-Pacific Forestry Sector Outlook Study Working Paper Series No: 35 23

Table 28 - The Estimated Supply of Different Fibre Materials in 2010 (103 tons)

Supply Output of pulp Quantity Percentage (%) Timber (103 ) 47,000 13,160 33.01 Reeds 4,300 1,720 4.32 Bagasse 3,800 1,485 3.73 Bamboo 4,500 1,760 4.42 Straw of rice and wheat 20,000 7,900 19.83 Waste hemp and cotton 1,800 1,260 3.16 Waster paper 1,600 12,000 30.12 Others 1,500 560 1.41 Total 39,845

5.9 Artificial Panel Industry

The manufacture of artificial panels using non-wood material started from the 1940s when some small mills were established with bagasse for panels in Shanghai and Suzhou. In the 1960s, some mills with the annual fibreboard production of 2,000 tons using cotton stalks were built in Henan and Zhejiang province. There has been rapid development in the use of non-wood fibre for artificial panels since 1980. The main areas of progress are four:

• Through scientific research, the panels production using non- wood fibre materials has been promoted rapidly. The technology and process of particleboard production using agriculture residuals as raw material were studied such as the utilization of straw of cotton, maize, rape, tobacco, sunflower, and sorghum. Many kinds of artificial panels with different physical and mechanical properties were produced and pilot experiments on the utilization of some non-wood fibre were conducted. • Artificial Panels Mills with annual production of 2,000-15,000 m3 were set up in most provinces in China. All equipment for these mills is manufactured in China. • Advanced technology and equipment have been introduced from abroad since 1985, such as the bagasse and cotton Particleboard Processing Plant and MDF Mills with annual production of 30-50 thousand m3 in some provinces such as Guangdong, Shandong and Hebei etc. • Non-wood panels with inorganic binders have been produced. A mill to produce a board with cement-bonded wheat-straw is set up with annual production of 10 thousand m3 in Shandong Province. Research on the technologies for the production of gypsum particleboard with cotton straw and bamboo has been conducted by the scientists of the Chinese Academy of Forestry.

In 1994, the total output of particleboard and fibreboard reached 1.69 million m3 and 1.93 million m3 respectively in China, of which the production from non-wood fibre accounted for 15-25%.

Because the utilization of wheat straw to manufacture paper has caused a serious waste water pollution, the paper mills with annual production of less 5 thousand tons have been forced to close. The paper mills with production of over 5 thousand tons also face a similar fate if the

Status, Trends and Prospects for Non-Wood and Recycled Fibre in China 24 Zhu Zhaohua, Jiang Chunqian, Zhong Maogong, Wang Huafu problem of waste water is not controlled. In the light of present situation, the industry of non- wood particleboard (which has less pollution to environment, lower cost and good benefits) may be rapidly developed in future. The main raw materials are to be the straws of bagasse, cotton, flax, tobacco and maize etc.

Concerning the production scale, the mills will be set up with annual output of 16-30 thousand m3 instead of small-scale mills with annual output of 10 thousand m3. in future. However, it is impossible to set up non-wood MDF mills of middle or large scale because of poor investment and power as well as technological problems, but it is possible to set up MDF plants using bagasse and cotton straw as raw materials with annual output of 20-30 thousand m3 in the near future.

6 CONSTRAINTS TO NON-WOOD FIBRE UTILIZATION

6.1 Paper-making

6.1.1 Market requirement

The supply of high quality paper is less than the demand so that China has to depend on imports; the low quality paper products made from straw as raw material are in surplus.

6.1.2 Poor Equipment and Techniques; dominance of small mills

The equipment in most of China paper-making mills is in the level of 1950s. Some big and middle scale mills reach the level of 1960s-1970s. In 1990s, some modern technologies were introduced from developed countries. China has 11,025 paper and pulp mills. Among them there are 130 mills with the production of 30,000 tons or more and 9,838 mills which produce less than 10,000 tons. There are about 9,141 mills which produce less than 5,000 tons.

6.1.3 Serious Pollution

The amount of wastewater emission from paper industries is about 15 % of total waste water in the country. These small-scale mills are devoid of treatment equipment to recover toxic chemicals. In order to protect the environment, China government decided to close to small scale mills with annual capacity lower than 5,000 tons. Bu 1996 about 4,000 small-scale mills had been closed. Although the total output of paper and paperboard decreased; there has been little affect on the market because the products of these closed mills are low-quality paper and paperboard. Now many closed mills are combining so as to enlarge their production capacity and improve equipment for wastewater treatment.

By 2000, China plans to build 17 new wood pulp mills with combined annual output of 3,220 thousand tons and to reconstruct old mills. In order to control pollution, some priorities were adopted:

Status, Trends and Prospects for Non-Wood and Recycled Fibre in China Asia-Pacific Forestry Sector Outlook Study Working Paper Series No: 35 25

• Dissemination the importance of environment protection and balance economic, social and environmental benefits. • Research on the techniques of waste water treatment in straw process. • Improve the raw materials10. • Upgrade the scale of enterprise. • Support the large scale enterprises which have more benefits and limit small scale paper enterprises. • Provide loans to enterprises for the purpose of pollution control. Some money is collected for the establishment of environment protection foundation. Some preferential policies such as reducing or exempting from tax are applied to some products to encourage comprehensive wastewater reclamation. • Promulgate the regulations and laws of environment protection.

6.2 Panel Industry

The main problems are as follows:

• The production scale is small, quality of products is unstable and benefits are not very good. The annual production of most established panel mills is from 2,000 to 5,000 m3. Owing to the shortage of funds, advanced techniques and equipment cannot be adopted so that the production cost is high. • There is no equipment for wastewater processing in the non-wood fibreboard mills and the product quality is also low. • The production equipment for manufacturing the non-wood based panels is not specifically designed for these raw materials. Most equipment is similar to that for producing wood based panels, so part of equipment is not suitable for the non-wood fibre materials. The equipment needs to be further improved and special equipment needs to be developed. • Lack of lower cost adhesive to make wheat-straw board. • Poor transportation condition and scattered distribution. • Some techniques are still missing or poor: for example, the removing of medulla and cover in plant fibre, the storage of raw material, and the technologies of board-making and compression.

In China, the development and utilization of non wood fibre material resources have some advanced condition and some problems to be solved, but also have a bright prospect.

10 Improving raw materials means (according to the authors) increasing the proportion of wood, waste paper, reeds, bamboo and bagasse but decrease that of rice straw.

Status, Trends and Prospects for Non-Wood and Recycled Fibre in China 26 Zhu Zhaohua, Jiang Chunqian, Zhong Maogong, Wang Huafu

ANNEX 1 - MAIN PHYSICAL AND MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF NON-WOOD FIBRE BASED PARTICLEBOARDS

Thickness Density MOR MOE IB. (Mpa) TS (%) Moisture (mm) (g/cm3) (Mpa) (Mpa) content Bamboo 6 0.72 32.3 3298 1.06 5.8 5.5 8 0.73 34.3 3840 1.38 4.0 5.2 12 0.68 29.9 3273 0.93 3.2 3.3 19 0.70 36.9 3532 0.99 1.9 - Waste flax 7.5 0.61 19.9 - 0.58 5.0 4.2-7.8 Wheat straw 12 0.52-0.66 18.5-31.8 - 0.39-0.56 4.2-6.0 - Sunflower straw 19 0.65 20.6-22.3 - 0.46-0.52 8.4-11.9 - Maize straw 4-12 0.6-0.8 16-22 - 0.5-0.8 4-6 -

Status, Trends and Prospects for Non-Wood and Recycled Fibre in China Asia-Pacific Forestry Sector Outlook Study Working Paper Series No: 35 27

ANNEX 2 - MAIN PHYSICAL AND MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF NON-WOOD FIBRE BASED MDF

Cotton straw Bamboo Reed Bagasse Board thickness (mm) 18 9 9 9 9 MOR (Mpa) 30-40 32-36 25 26-30 30-35 IB (Mpa) 0.5-0.6 0.60-0.65 0.50 0.45-0.55 0.60-0.65 Absorptivity 14-17 22-26 20 16-20 12 TS 6-8 6-10 9 7-8 4-6 Length Swelling 0.30-0.40 0.35-0.50 0.30 0.30-0.38 0.30 Density (g/cm3) 0.65-0.69 0.70-0.75 0.70-0.75 0.72-0.76 0.70

Status, Trends and Prospects for Non-Wood and Recycled Fibre in China 28 Zhu Zhaohua, Jiang Chunqian, Zhong Maogong, Wang Huafu

List of Working Papers already released

APFSOS/WP/01 Regional Study - The South Pacific APFSOS/WP/02 Pacific Rim Demand and Supply Situation, Trends and Prospects: Implications for Forest Products Trade in the Asia-Pacific Region APFSOS/WP/03 The Implications of the GATT Uruguay Round and other Trade Arrangements for the Asia-Pacific Forest Products Trade APFSOS/WP/04 Status, Trends and Future Scenarios for Forest Conservation including Protected Areas in the Asia-Pacific Region APFSOS/WP/05 In-Depth Country Study - New Zealand APFSOS/WP/06 In-Depth Country Study - Republic of Korea APFSOS/WP/07 Country Report - Malaysia APFSOS/WP/08 Country Report - Union of Myanmar APFSOS/WP/09 Challenges and Opportunities: Policy options for the forestry sector in the Asia-Pacific Region APFSOS/WP/10 Sources of Non-wood Fibre for Paper, Board and Panels Production: Status, Trends and Prospects for India APFSOS/WP/11 Country Report - Pakistan APFSOS/WP/12 Trends and Outlook for Forest Products Consumption, Production and Trade in the Asia-Pacific Region APFSOS/WP/13 Country Report - Australia APFSOS/WP/14 Country Report - China APFSOS/WP/15 Country Report - Japan: Basic Plan on Forest Resources and Long- Term Perspective on Demand and Supply of Important Forestry Products APFSOS/WP/16 Country Report - Sri Lanka APFSOS/WP/17 Forest Resources and Roundwood Supply in the Asia Pacific Countries: Situation and Outlook to Year 2010 APFSOS/WP/18 Country Report - Cambodia APFSOS/WP/19 Wood Materials from Non-Forest Areas APFSOS/WP/20 Forest Industry Structure and the Evolution of Trade Flows in the Asia-Pacific Region - Scenarios to 2010 APFSOS/WP/21 Decentralization and Devolution of Forest Management in Asia and the Pacific APFSOS/WP/22 Commentary on Forest Policy in the Asia-Pacific Region (A Review for Indonesia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Papua-New Guinea, Philippines, Thailand, And Western Samoa APFSOS/WP/23 Asia Pacific Forestry Sector Outlook: Focus On Coconut Wood APFSOS/WP/24 Ecotourism And Other Services Derived From Forests In The Asia- Pacific Region: Outlook To 2010 APFSOS/WP/25 Technology Scenarios in the Asia-Pacific Forestry Sector APFSOS/WP/26 In-Depth Country Report - India APFSOS/WP/27 People and Forests: Situation and Prospects APFSOS/WP/28 Non-Wood Forest Products Outlook Study for Asia and The Pacific: Towards 2010 APFSOS/WP/29 Opportunities for Forestry Investment in Asia and the Pacific Through Carbon Offset Initiatives APFSOS/WP/30 Country Report - The Maldives APFSOS/WP/31 Country Report - Vietnam

Status, Trends and Prospects for Non-Wood and Recycled Fibre in China Asia-Pacific Forestry Sector Outlook Study Working Paper Series No: 35 29

APFSOS/WP/32 Country Report - Nepal APFSOS/WP/33 Country Report - The Philippines APFSOS/WP/34 Regional Study on Wood Energy Today and Tomorrow in Asia APFSOS/WP/35 The Status, Trends and Prospects for Non-Wood and Recycled Fibre Sources in China

Status, Trends and Prospects for Non-Wood and Recycled Fibre in China