SUMMARY

The notion that the forest resource in India was inexhaustible led to a situation of complacence and the enormous non wood fibre resources remained unutilized for production of pulp, paper and panels. Although research and development had established the suitability of a vast variety of these sources grasses, bamboos, agricultural residues, weeds, etc., and a number of them were used in small mills as complementary sources of fibre, organized utilization waited till signals of shrinking forests and diminishing wood resources became too strong to be ignored. When this happened, the Government, based on recommendations of various expert committees, announced several measures to narrow the gap between demand and supply of wood and more importantly to tap the vast sources of non wood and recycled fibres. Slow and cautious steps have since been taken in this direction. In this report, these developments have been captured and an attempt made to foresee the scenario to year 2010.

The pulp and paper industry in India is characterised by the dominance of small units below 10,000 tonnes per annum (TPA) capacity. While mills of large capacities mainly used wood and bamboo as raw materials, small mills depended on agricultural residues and waste paper. The number of mills in 1995 was 380, with total installed capacity of 4.35 million tonnes. The production during the year was 2.81 million tonnes. About 0.42 million tonnes of paper and newsprint was imported. The contribution of forest (wood and bamboo) agricultural residues and recycled fibre sources was 38%, 36% and 26% respectively to achieve this. Considering that forest sources accounted for 95% of production in 1970, the progress by 1995 in the utilization of non wood sources was, no doubt, impressive.

Several studies have been carried out to estimate future demand of pulp paper newsprint and availability of wood to produce the same. These have been reviewed in the report and the projection adopted is given below.

Year	Anticipated demand of pulp, paper and newsprint (million tonnes)	Forest (wood and bamboo) raw material requirement (Million cu.m)
2000	4.1	23.6
2005	5.0	28.5
2010	6.2	35.0

From various studies carried out, the demand for panels and wood raw material requirement to produce the same, have been worked out:

Year	Plywood (million cu.m)	Particleboard (million tonnes)	Fibreboard (million tonnes)	MDF (million tonnes)	Wood raw material requirement (million cu.m)
2000	0.73	0.13	0.089	0.20	2.41
2005	0.85	0.18	0.13	0.34	3.17
2010	0.96	0.25	0.17	0.47	3.93

The Government has initiated massive efforts to enlarge wood resources as natural forests have dwindled and subjected to heavy biotic pressure. About 25 million ha of plantation of tree species have been raised (including fuelwood and fodder species). Till 1995, the annual area planted increased from about 10,000 ha per annum in the fifties to more than 1.5 million ha annually in recent years. The wood budget is estimated as follows:

	1996	2001	2006
	(in million cu.m)
Estimated output from natural forests:	12	12	12
Estimated output from plantations raised under production forestry, social forestry schemes, etc.	41	47	53
Estimated demand (housing, agriculture implements, industries, etc.)	64	73	82

The industries have to compete with other socially stronger sectors like rural housing, agricultural implements, etc., to obtain their requirement in this deficit scenario. While some requirement is met by imports of logs (mainly plywood), chips and pulp, increased utilization of non wood sources will be the most viable option.

India is endowed with rich non wood fibre sources, both in respect of diversity and abundance. The more important of them, established to be suitable for production of pulp, paper and panels are bagasse and straw. They have alternative uses, but can still be made available for industrial uses.

Non wood fibre source	Output in million tonnes
	2000	2005	2010
Bagasse	60.0	75.0	90.0
Rice straw	18.0	21.0	24.0
Wheat straw	8.3	8.7	9.1

Of the non wood sources, bamboo has traditionally been used for paper making since the beginning. Due to strong competitive uses, it is unlikely that it will be available in more quantities than at present for pulp and paper production. The utilization of bagasse in the organized segment of pulp and paper industry is recent. As several of the technological and logistic problems encountered in its utilization have been overcome, its increased use in future is clearly foreseen. About 0.83 million capacity based on this source is already planned for 1996-2000. The likelihood of increased utilization of straw is not foreseen, as a few technological and several logistic problems are yet to be addressed. Only 40,000 tonnes capacity based on straw is planned for 1996-2000. The domestic recycled fibre source is large, but unorganized. Together with imported waste paper, it is expected to play an important role. As import of pulp is very much liberalized, it will also contribute significantly to meet future fibre source. Taking into consideration various incentives available to utilize non wood fibre sources, their potential availability, technological and logistical constraints involved, etc., following Outlook 2010 is projected:

Raw material source	Likely production of paper, paperboards and newsprint (million tonnes)
	2000	2005	2010
Bagasse	1.1	1.6	2.2
Others (chiefly straw)	0.2	0.5	0.8
Recycled fibre	0.7	1.0	1.2
Imported pulp	0.7	0.7	0.7
Wood and bamboo	1.4	1.2	1.2
Total	4.1	5.0	6.1

With regard to panels, it is unlikely that logistical and attitudinal problems associated with utilization of non wood sources can be overcome by 2010, although technological feasibility is established. If a highly optimistic view is taken, some contribution may be made by bamboo, bagasse, cotton stalk, rice husk, etc., if capacity expansion, planned since last 10-12 years, is implemented.

	Likely Percentage contribution
	2000	2005	2010
Bamboo for plywood	2.7	4.7	7.3
Particleboard and Fibreboard
Bagasse	14	15	15.2
Cotton stalk	6.7	6.8	6.8
Rice straw	22	22.8	23
Rice husk	4.7	4.8	4.8