Information technology and trends in the paper market

Consumption of printing papers intended for communication (newsprint, magazine papers, office papers) has been rising since their production first began. Earlier concerns that these papers might be replaced by information technology papers now seem to be unfounded. However, recent studies show that the situation is changing (article on pages 424-425). Newsprint consumption has fallen in the United States, Canada and some EU countries. In the Nordic countries, consumption began to level off in the mid-1990s, with a sharp fall at the turn of the millennium. The market for certain office papers also seems to have undergone a restructuring in recent years. Figures show that growth in consumption of office papers (including A4 sheets and forms) has slowed down markedly, stopped altogether, or even started to fall in some OECD countries. As with newsprint, the change has been most noticeable in North America. No similar change has yet taken place in the case of magazine papers. Overall consumption of paper products worldwide continues to rise despite advances in information technology. Although the well established link between paper consumption, economic growth and population growth seems to have been broken in some Western countries, this has not happened in countries like China, the Far East and Russia.