Domtar VP: U.S. Paper Market Decline Vital to Fort Mill Facility Having Strong International Sales
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According to a report this week by the Charlotte Business Journal (Charlotte, N.C., USA), almost 30% of Domtar's (Montreal, Que., Canada) annual revenue comes from selling paper, pulp, and personal-care products within only the international markets.
Some of those international markets are actually growing while P&P industry sales in the Western world are still declining. This means the bottom line, in the opinion of Tom Howard, VP, Government Relations at Domtar, is that the overseas markets are vital to the Fort Mill, S.C., USA based operation. The Journal conducted a brief yet comprehensive interview of the company division VP.
The information Howard pointed out in the interview is no deep secret, but rather indicates wisdom and the right temperament in the industry to arrive at the best decisions, decisions that are only acceptable in the opinion of larger-scale paper companies operating very carefully when exporting and supplying a weakening N.A. market. Absolute must is to maintain a regular profit without quickly falling into maintenance, labor, and machine rebuild costs.
Pictured above:A state-of-the art managed Paper Roll Management System. Notice the clean work space. An unusual "upside" to an expected and accounted for lack of domestic demand is, in the belief of some, responsible for QC assurance . Domtar workers are said to work well together and with themselves in offering high quality across the globe from this Mill on the S.E. U.S. East Coast.
The following two questions to Domtar management can be found in the full article available online. Here, they provide a sample of the conversation as well as some paper business common sense as explained by VP Howard.
How do you target markets for international sales?
Transportation represents the most complicated aspect to our team as getting our products to customers around the globe can present financial and logistical challenges. Our products need to travel from facility to port via rail or truck and then are shipped around the globe, which requires an intricate logistical network to supply our customers with the right products at the right time.
Where have you seen the biggest opportunity?
The biggest growth we see is in the industrializing markets, as more and more people enter the middle class and rely on the products that Domtar manufactured in North Carolina
