In what may be a sign of good economic fortune and growth in the overall global paper industry, Kadant, Westford, Mass., USA, has announced that international orders from the industry in both Asia and North America have amounted to a reported total of $21 million. The most recent orders placed this past week are for fiber processing equipment used in the paper and packaging industries. The company did not release names of the individual companies placing orders, but said that this most recent $10 million set of orders were from producers based both the U.S. and in Taiwan.

 

Kadant announced January 20 that it received final Q4 earnings from 2014 valued at $11 million from three individual producers. These facilities are reported to be located in the U.S. as well as Mexico.

 

While demand for pulp, paper, and wood-fiber based packaging equipment for processors in the industry is known to exist in Asia where Kadant is supplying a segment of their new P&P orders in Taiwan, these new orders in the U.S. and in Mexico could be interpreted as some good news for North American P&P producers that may have struggled in recent years, as a significant number of citizens in countries like the U.S. are transitioning towards using more digital media for printing and writing needs.

 

Younger demographics show signs of being even more reliant on digital technology that is intended to replace paper. The newsprint industry in North America has especially seen consistent yearly decline as a result of this transition, according to a Canadian government study titled The Outlook for The Pulp and Paper Industry - A Modern and Competitive Industry. 

 

According to this study, it’s definitely not time for the industry to "give up and shut down." Instead, it is evolving to invest in more new projects and explore new industrial frontiers as it applies to forestry, including producing high quality pulp materials such as fluff pulp, a concentration on nanocellulose development and application, more concentration on tissue/hygiene products, a concentration on paper packaging, and even in the simultaneous production of energy from cellulosic sugars in sustainably harvested trees. This is at the same time paper products are being made at the newest and largest international mills.

 

Even at the current  time, many facilities are now self-powered by forest materials brought to site, but not used in final products, including some state-of-the-art mills improving efficiency in their overall production process, enough to sell energy back to their state’s electrical grid after production needs are fully met at the facility.

 

"The favorable investment environment for chemical pulp and recycling projects in North America has resulted in these projects being converted to orders," said Jonathan W. Painter, president and CEO of Kadant.