12:39:25 PM | 7/8/2008
Prices of papers will continue soaring next year due to high demand of domestic market, the Vietnam Trade Information Center (VTIC) said on its Web site, citing the Vietnam Pulp and Paper Association (VPPA).
The association said at a meeting it is seeking way to reduce paper shortage in the remaining months of this year that Vietnam needs around 130,000 tons of printing paper in 2008, but domestic supply can meet only 54 per cent.
The VPPA said prices of writing paper and notebook will continue surging, calling on local companies to boot imports in order to ensure sufficiency for growing domestic demand in the upcoming school year.
The Vietnam Paper General Company promised to offer 70,000 tons of paper, while Tan Mai Paper JSC pledging to provide 42,000 tons of printing paper and 25,000 tons of writing paper to the market from now to the end of 2008.
The association forecast Vietnam’s demand for printing paper will rise by 30 per cent in 2009, to around 165,000 tons, of which 60,000-80,000 tons will be imported. The country’s demand for writing paper will be 461,000 tons, with 380,000 tons will be locally produced.
Vietnamese paper companies said it will have to raise paper prices, but promising to keep the prices some 10 per cent lower than imports’.
In the first seven months of 2008, Vietnamese companies spent US$472 million importing 585,000 tons of papers, up 40.6 per cent on year in value and 23.7 per cent in volume, according to the General Statistics Office (GSO). (Vinanet, GSO July Edition)
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