The Future of Offset Paper: Opportunities And Challenges Ahead

In the information age, paper as a traditional information carrier, is facing unprecedented challenges, and as one of the widely used paper products, the future development of offset printing paper is of great concern. From the current market trends, technological innovation and changes in the social environment and other factors to consider, the future of offset printing paper is full of opportunities and challenges.

Changes in market supply and demand pattern

In recent years, the production capacity of offset printing paper has shown rapid expansion. in 2024, China's offset printing paper production capacity is expected to reach 16.52 million tons, an increase of 40.7% compared with 2019, and the new production capacity is expected to be 1.55 million tons in 2025, an increase of 9.4% year-on-year. Shandong, Guangdong and Jiangsu provinces are the production centers, accounting for 66% of the capacity. However, market demand is growing slowly, and the capacity utilization rate was only about 60% in the past four years, highlighting the problem of overcapacity.

From the demand side, offset printing paper downstream consumption of books accounted for the largest proportion of demand, about 90%, of which the total number of student textbooks printed accounted for 36.47% of the total number of books. However, due to public health events and the rise of digital reading, the size of retail book yardage has been on an oscillating downward trend. Although the school-age population and demand for textbooks are still on the rise, the textbook market is expected to shrink accordingly in the next two years as the school-age population decreases. However, the market is still strongly supported by orders for teaching aids and party building, which to a certain extent stabilized the demand for offset printing paper.

Environmental protection and sustainable development requirements

With increasingly stringent environmental regulations and consumers' environmental awareness, the demand for environmentally friendly materials continues to rise. Double-glued paper industry needs to actively respond to reduce the environmental impact of the production process. On the one hand, the use of recyclable raw materials reduces dependence on virgin wood and helps protect forest resources. On the other hand, optimizing the production process and reducing emissions of waste water, gas and waste residue saves energy and reduces emissions. Obtaining environmental certifications such as FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) certification will become an important competitiveness of offset printing paper products, meet the market demand for environmentally friendly products, and open up a broader market space.

Promotion of technological innovation

Advanced production technology will be the key driving force for the future development of offset paper. Improvement of coating technology can further enhance the surface performance of offset printing paper, making it more adaptable to printing, presenting a more exquisite printing effect, and meeting the stringent quality requirements of the high-end printing market. Develop and use more environmentally friendly chemicals to reduce the harm to the environment while safeguarding paper quality. In addition, the development of offset printing paper with special functions, such as waterproof, oil-proof, antibacterial, etc., can broaden the scope of its market applications, to meet the diversified needs of different industries, for offset printing paper to open up new market areas.

Cost control and market competition

offset printing paper production is faced with high raw material costs and production costs, enterprises need to continuously optimize the production process, improve production efficiency, reduce the unit cost of the product, in order to maintain the price advantage in the highly competitive market. Large enterprises with the scale effect, in the procurement of raw materials, production equipment renewal and other aspects of a greater advantage, can better control costs. SMEs, on the other hand, need to win market share through differentiated competition, focusing on niche markets and providing specialty products and services. Changes in industry concentration will continue to affect the market pattern, and competition and cooperation among enterprises will become more frequent.

International market and trade environment

The production and sale of offset printing paper involves the international market, and the global trade policy and economic environment have an important impact on its industry development. On the one hand, the development of international markets provides more growth opportunities for enterprises. China's double-glued paper export volume first declined and then increased, the first half of 2024 export volume of 506,700 tons, export destinations to Asian countries and regions. By improving product quality and brand awareness and actively expanding overseas markets, it helps to alleviate the pressure of domestic overcapacity. On the other hand, trade friction, exchange rate fluctuations and other factors also bring risks and challenges to the double-glued paper enterprises, enterprises need to pay close attention to the dynamics of the international market, to develop a reasonable response strategy.

In the future, the double-glued paper industry will be adjusted in the market supply and demand, environmental protection requirements to improve, driven by technological innovation, cost competition and changes in the international market and other factors under the joint effect of development. Enterprises need to actively respond to the challenges, seize the opportunity, through technological innovation, green development and market expansion and other initiatives to achieve sustainable development, in the ever-changing market environment to find a new development space belonging to the double-glued paper.

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