Global and China Dissolving Pulp Industry Report, 2014-2017

Dissolving pulp as defined by Global and China Dissolving Pulp Industry Report, 2014-2017 refers to pulp with cellulose content above 90%, mainly including wood pulp, bamboo pulp, and cotton pulp (dissolving pulp in this report just involves wood and bamboo pulps), and finding application mainly in viscose fiber downstream.

In 2014, there were a great number of newly-added capacities for dissolving pulp, such as Sappi's 330,000 metric tpy of capacity in North America, Double A (Thailand's) 175,000 metric tpy of capacity, and 110,000 metric tpy of capacity at OJI (Japan). However, due to a constantly-depressed downstream viscose fiber market, the price of dissolving pulp continued to drop, being $800 per ton around the end of 2014.

In 2015, there are still several dissolving pulp projects under construction. Forr instance, Lenzing is expanding its dissolving pulp capacity, Aditya Birla is building 200,000 metric tpy of capacity in Laos.

The world's dissolving pulp industry features quite high concentration. Key industrial players include Sappi, Aditya Birla, Lenzing, Bracell, and Rayonier. In 2014, the total dissolving pulp capacity of these five producers accounted for roughly 53.3% of the global total. In particular, Sappi owned 1.34 million metric tpy of capacity, holding 18.9% in global total, and set up production bases in South Africa and North America.

China's dissolving pulp capacity soared from 2011, and had climbed to 1.2 million metric tpy at the end of 2014, making up 17% of the global total. But due to lack of forest resources, Chinese dissolving pulp requires high production costs and thus shows weak competitiveness.

In 2014, influenced by a sluggish downstream viscose fiber industry in China and cheap dissolving pulp in the international market, China's dissolving pulp industry suffered a huge loss, so some dissolving pulp capacity was switched to other products or even production was halted. Forr example, Sun Paper's dissolving pulp machines were switched to production of paper pulp in April, equipment at Yueyang Forest & Paper began to produce bleached softwood pulp in July, and Fujian Nanping Paper's devices stopped production altogether.

In April, 2014, the Ministry of Commerce of PRC publicized its final judgement on an anti-dumping investigation, which indicated that China would impose an anti-dumping rate of 17%, 13%, and 6.8% on dissolving pulp imported from the U.S., Canada, and Brazil in the next five years. In addition, newly-added dissolving pulp capacity in China will be relatively limited in the future. AT that time, excessive supply is predicted to be eased and China's dissolving pulp industry will gradually bottom out.

In China, companies owning dissolving pulp production devices are mainly medium and large papermaking enterprises and chemical fiber manufacturers, wherein, the papermaking enterprises are chiefly comprised of Yueyang Forest & Paper, Sun Paper, and Huatai Paper, which mainly provide wood dissolving pulp and possess 300,000 metric tpy of capacity, 200,000 metric toy of capacity, and 120 metric tpy of capacity, respectively. Chemical fiber enterprises include Yibin Grace Group and Jilin Chemical Fiber Group, whose major product is bamboo dissolving pulp, among which the 95,ooo metric tpy bamboo dissolving pulp project of Jilin Chemical Fiber started trial operation in September 2014.