"This is because Indonesia has the potential, especially related to raw materials, where the productivity of our plants is much higher than the competing countries with subtropical climates," said Head of the Industrial Research and Development Agency (BPPI) of the Ministry of Industry, Ngakan Timur Antara, in a written statement on Nov. 11.

There are currently 84 pulp and paper companies operating. In the global context, Indonesia is currently ranked 9th as the largest pulp producer in the world and the 6th largest paper producer in the world. Ngakan said, referring to national industrial policies, pulp and paper is one of the sectors that have priority to be developed, because it provides a significant contribution to the national economy.

Ngakan said the Center for Pulp and Paper (BBPK) in Bandung played an active role in efforts to develop green standards. On Nov. 6-8, BBPK Bandung also held the Third International Symposium on Resource Efficiency in Pulp and Paper Technology (3rd REPTech). The symposium aims to promote and disseminate innovations in R & D results and development of environmentally sound technologies, in the management of the pulp and paper industry.

Based on performance, the paper industry was ranked first and the pulp industry ranked third for forestry product exports during 2011-2017. Both were able to provide a contribution to the country's foreign exchange of US$5.8 billion in 2017. With details, the pulp export activities have reached US$2.2 billion with the destination of export countries such as China, Korea, India, Bangladesh, and Japan. The paper exports have reached US$3.6 billion with the main destination countries to Japan, the United States, Malaysia, Vietnam, and China.

The pulp and paper industry is also reportedly able to absorb as many as 260,000 direct workers and 1.1 million indirect workers.