Raw materials for the Chinese paper industry

Paper has been produced in China for the past 2,000 years - mainly from grasses, bamboo and rags. Last year, 40% of China's paper was produced from various types of straw pulp. While wood fibre is recognized as a useful raw material, it is in short supply in a country that is desert in some areas and densely populated in others. Most of the wood that is available is used for either burning or building. Of all wood felled in the country, only 4% is used for papermaking. In the case of commercially grown wood, just 9.5% ends up as paper. The article on pages 154-157 takes a broad look at China's fibre raw materials, with the Black Dragon Group's Qiqihar paper mill in northern China as an example.