In recent months, the world has been plagued by a shortage of paper.

If you search the Internet, you will see a lot of such fantastic news: British newspapers have started to become thinner and fewer pages; Due to the lack of paper in many German cigarette factories, the production of cigarettes has been adversely affected; The printing of votes in the United States in the next few years may face a “paper shortage”; Indian newspapers have taken various measures to save paper, including changing the layout, stopping the publication of editorials, and canceling weekend special issues; Western academic publishers frequently postpone the publication of new books; Europeans may need to save toilet paper when they go to the toilet in the future

There are many reasons for the global paper shortage. As far as the European and American markets are concerned, the main reasons include the energy shortage caused by the conflict between Russia and Ukraine and the Western sanctions and the supply of Russian timber; Supply chain chaos related to COVID-19, high barriers to entry and low profit margins in the paper industry, and workers’ strikes in some related industries.

In fact, the paper supply chain is very global. However, the COVID-19 epidemic that has lasted for two years and the sudden deterioration of the geopolitical situation this year have interrupted many links in the paper supply chain. As a result, many paper mills have reduced their production capacity, resulting in a shortage of paper supply in the market and a rise in their prices. In addition, freight costs are also generally increasing, coupled with blocked logistics and rigid production processes, all these factors have a huge negative impact on the supply of paper.

Sadly, this situation is unlikely to improve significantly in the short term.

Because Russia is an important source of European timber. Walter schalka, CEO of Suzano SA, the world’s largest pulp producer, said that due to the escalation of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, the timber trade between Russia and Europe has been completely blocked, and Russian timber has also lost global certification, which means that the production capacity of pulp producers in Europe, especially in Northern Europe, will be greatly limited.