Changing patterns in India: A report on pulping prospects

FROM FAO'S PULP AND PAPER BRANCH

India did not begin using wood for pulping until the 1960s. Since then, its wood consumption has increased more quickly than anticipated, while there has been a slight decline in the relative share of the country's traditional pulping source bamboo. In the future, forest fibres such as wood and bamboo will continue to be the major pulp resources, but non-forest fibres, in particular bagasse, will steadily assume more importance. However, if India is to remain relatively self-sufficient in pulping resources as it has until now it will have to expand its use of wood, most likely through hardwood plantations, forest regeneration and the use of fast-growing species suitable for pulping and paper-making.

· The traditional raw materials for pulping in India are bamboo and agricultural residues. However, because of a lack of the main raw material-bamboo-hardwoods have been increasingly used since the 1960s. The Government has consistently supported a programme of increased utilization of agricultural residues as raw material for pulping, predominantly in small mills. Although the quantities of paper produced from these raw materials have increased in absolute terms, most of the pulp in India is still produced from bamboo and from hardwoods.

More recently, increased attention has been given to use of one of the agricultural residues - bagasse - as pulping raw material. There is no doubt that among such residues bagasse is the most promising. As for straw, there are a number of constraints on a major increase in its utilization for pulping.

The demand for paper in India is expected to grow at a fairly high rate, and the questions that arise from this are to what extent it will be able to meet the future requirements of pulping raw materials and what actions need to be taken to achieve this.

Pulp production in India

A breakdown of the last five year plans in India for various types of fibrous raw material is shown in Table 1. In percentage terms, bamboo pulp maintained its position as the most important fibrous raw material throughout all the planning periods, although it showed a slightly declining trend. Agricultural residues accounted for 20 percent of the total fibre furnish 30 years ago, but this was decreased to 12 percent in the 1974-1978 five-year plan. Wood pulp, on the other hand, was not used at all until the 1960s. In the 1969-1974 planning period, its share was forecast to rise up to 19 percent. It seems, however, that the supply of hardwoods did not meet the expectations for that period and, accordingly, for the planning period 19741978 it was put as low as 10 percent. As for waste paper, the planned use has been fairly constant, between 8 and 10 percent, except in the period 1969-1974, when it was as low as 3 percent.

India's plans for pulping fibres ...

Table 1. Planned use of fibrous raw materials during planning periods between 1951 and 1978 in India (Percentage)

	1951-1956	1956-1961	1961-1966	1969-1974	1974-1978
Wood pulp	-	-	7	19	10
Bamboo pulp	72	70	67	67	70
Agricultural residues pulp	20	20	18	11	12
Waste paper	8	10	8	3	8
Total	100	100	100	100	100

Source: Stale Bank of India, 1980.

... did not match actual consumption

Table 2. Fibre consumption for paper and board production in India In 1979

	Volume(air-dry tonnes)	Percentage
Wood pulp	303000	25
Bamboo pulp	630000	53
Straw pulp	50000	4
Bagasse pulp	20000	2
Other agricultural residue pulp	75000	6
Waste paper	120000	10
Total fibre	1198000	100

Source: FAO/UNEP, 1981; FAO, 1981.

Table 3. Recorded extraction of wood from forests In India, 1975/76

	Volume(millions of m3)	Percentage
Industrial wood	9.9	37
Fuelwood	16.6	63
Total	26.5	100

Source FAO/UNEP, 1981.

Table 2 provides a breakdown of the estimated actual fibrous raw material consumption in India in 1979. Here it can be seen that 25 percent of the raw material used was wood pulp, a share two-and-a-half times greater than expected, and that 53 percent of the fibre consisted of bamboo pulp, considerably less than the planned use of 70 percent in 1974-1978. Waste paper and agricultural residue pulp based on raw materials such as straw and bagasse were consumed more or less as planned.

Domestic fibre production can meet nearly all the requirements of the paper industry. For instance, only about 3.5 percent of India's total pulp requirement was imported in 1979. There are, however, indications that fibre imports, especially in the form of waste paper, will soon increase.

India is fairly self-sufficient in its supply of paper and paperboard. The only significant import is newsprint, but efforts are being made to improve the country's self-sufficiency in this grade as well. While India's overall self-sufficiency for all paper and paperboard products in 1979 was 73 percent, local production of newsprint accounted for only about 20 percent of the country's total needs.

Future fibrous raw materials

Wood. An indication of the distribution of the end-use of harvested wood in India in 1975/76 is given in Table 3. Thus, 9.9 million m³, or 37 percent of the total recorded wood extraction of 26.5 million m³, were used for industrial purposes. The actual quantity of fuel-wood consumed-which reached 133 million m³ in 1980 - was much greater than the 16.6 million m³ indicated, since this end-use sector is very difficult to estimate accurately.

Table 4 gives the allowable cut and the growing stock in India's forests for 1980 and the estimates for 1985. In 1980, for instance, the total growing stock in intensively managed productive forests was almost 2400 million m³ and the annual allowable cut 33 million m³. In undisturbed productive forests, the growing stock amounted in 1980 to almost 600 million m³, of which 200 million m³ could actually be commercialized. However, it would be unwise to take this supply from undisturbed forests for granted. First of all, the fuel-wood demand will undoubtedly increase as the population increases, mainly in and near densely populated areas. Second, the supply of wood to the existing wood-based pulp industry is already critical, so that the future supply to these mills is anything but secured. Third, the total wood consumption in 1975/76 was almost the same as the total allowable cut in intensively managed productive forests in 1980.

Any expansion of the pulp and paper industry, using the present forest resources, would accordingly have to be located in new areas where the current extent of utilization is low. However, even then, note should be taken of the fact that the data in Table 4 consistently show a reduction in the growing stock for all types of forest lands and in the annual allowable cut for intensively managed productive forests.

Most of the total growing stock in the productive forests in India is in the intensively managed forests. It is apparent from the low annual allowable cut that either these forests are too young for harvesting or they are grown for other than production purposes. Although there is a growing stock of about 470 million m³ of softwood in the productive forests of India, its availability for the pulp and paper industry is very much in doubt because of limited accessibility in mountainous areas. Thus, the main interest in the future will centre on the more accessible hardwood forests, in spite of expected increases in demand for papers that would require long-fibre pulp.

Table 4. Growing stock, annual allowable cut and potential commercial volume in forests in India, 1980 and 1985 (in millions of cubic metres)

	Hardwood		Softwood		Total
	1980	1985	1980	1988	1980	1985
Undisturbed productive forests
- growing stock	489	484	84	83	573	567
- potential commercial volume	170	155	30	29	200	184
Intensively managed productive forests
- growing stock	1984	1944	379	373	2363	2317
- annual allowable cut	30	29	3	3	33	32
Logged-over productive forests
- growing stock	115	111	8	7	123	118
- potential commercial volume	-	-	-	-	-	-
Total productive forests
- growing stock	2588	2539	471	463	3059	3002
Unproductive forests
- growing stock	309	305	111	110	420	415
- potential commercial volume	-	-	-	-	-	-

Source: FAO/UNEP, 1981.

Table 5. Growing stock of pure bamboo stands in India, 1980 and 1985 (in millions of air-dry tonnes)

	1980	1985
Undisturbed productive stands	5.3	5.2
Intensively managed productive stands	6.1	5.9
Logged-over productive stands	0.6	0.6
Total productive stands	12.0	11.7
Unproductive stands	0.4	0.4

Source FAO/UNEP 1981.

CONSTRUCTING A NEWSPRINT MILL IN MYSORE: India's paper demand will grow quickly

Growing stock and potentially available commercial volume from the undisturbed productive forests would appear to be able to provide some additional supply of hardwoods to paper mills. However, this supply is very often restricted. This is because of limited accessibility and lack of infrastructure. In some cases there might be an opportunity to allow extraction of valuable saw-logs and peeler logs. For pulpwood the cost of opening these forest areas may often be prohibitive to the establishment of a pulp and paper industry in new locations. New mills may therefore not be viable financially, and such enterprises might have problems in raising the large capital required. This limits the possibilities for more intensive use of the existing resources in many locations.

Bamboo. The growing stock of bamboo in India in pure stands for 1980 and 1985 is given in Table 5. The total growing stock in productive stands in 1980 amounted to 12 million air-dry tonnes, expected to decrease to 11.7 million tonnes by 1985. There is reason to believe that this diminishing trend for bamboo stands will continue.

On the basis of the consumption of bamboo pulp in 1979 (Table 2), it can be estimated that the bamboo used for pulping was 1.3 million air-dry tonnes, equivalent to 11 percent of the total growing stock in pure stands. If the relative raw-material base of the industry were unchanged by 1988/89, the use of bamboo would increase to 3.6 million air-dry tonnes in the comparatively near future. This would correspond to about 30 percent of the total growing stock in pure stands of bamboo in India. Although some hitherto-unutilized bamboo catchments may provide raw material to some mills established in the future, it is very unlikely that the utilization of bamboo will keep pace with the overall expansion in capacity. Through appropriate management and establishment of plantations of bamboo at a reasonable rate, it might, however, be possible to increase the percentage of utilization of the growing stock in pure stands for pulping.

A BAMBOO FOREST: India's traditional source for pulp

Agricultural residues. The theoretical average annual production in India of bagasse and straw during 19791981 is given in Table 6, calculated on the basis of sugar-cane and grain production statistics (FAO, 1981). A special feature of India with regard to bagasse is that only 40 percent of the sugar is produced in plants that employ centrifugation. This means that, of the almost 40 million tonnes of moist bagasse produced annually, only about 40 percent, or 16 million tonnes, would in theory be available for pulp and paper manufacture, since the remainder would most certainly be consumed as fuel by the smaller sugar mills. Among the larger sugar mills, there is a theoretical possibility of installing coal-fired boilers. Thus, substantial quantities of bagasse could be released for the manufacture of pulp and paper instead of being used, as at present, for fuel. On the other hand, limitations in quality and reliability of coal supply set restrictions on this possibility.

It has been estimated that about 20 percent of the additional capacity in printing- and writing-paper grades by the 1990s would be based on bagasse (Development Council for Paper Pulp and Allied Industries, 1977). Accordingly, the total consumption of bagasse for pulp and paper in India would then amount to about 1 million tonnes per year, from which about 150000 tonnes of pulp could be produced. This quantity of bagasse is well within the limits of physical availability, and it can therefore be foreseen that a substantial increase will occur in the capacity for the pulping of bagasse.

Although there is a total of almost 140 million tonnes per year of wheat and rice straw being produced in India, competitive uses such as fuel, fodder and roof-thatching, combined with unsuitable harvesting methods, set considerable constraints on the availability of straw for pulp and paper. Although some increases in the utilization of wheat and rice straw for pulping can be foreseen in the future, there is much doubt whether a substantial proportion of the raw material supply for the pulp and paper industry can be met from this resource.

ANDAMAN ISLAND LOGS FOR THE MAINLAND: can India stay self-sufficient?

HARDWOODS ARE THE KEY TO FUTURE SUPPLIES: but the problem Is access to them

No data can be given for "other agricultural residues" which include, for instance, mesta sticks, as well as other fibres that, strictly speaking, are not agricultural residues: rags, sabai grass, etc. Nevertheless, there is very little scope for a major increase in the utilization of these raw materials for pulp and paper.

Waste paper. Paper in India has multiple uses and, accordingly, the rate of recovery for pulp and paper is restricted by reduced physical availability in comparison with industrialized countries. For instance, the apparent rate of recovery in 1979, judging from the figures quoted, was about 12 percent. However, it would seem quite possible to increase this to about 20 percent, especially if a serious effort is made under conditions of critical shortage of fibrous raw material.

Meeting expected future demand

By the year 1990. The main conclusion is that it is unlikely that the future pattern of raw-material utilization for pulp and paper will be the same as in the past. The major short-term changes in this regard will probably be a decline in the use of bamboo-based pulp and an increase in the use of bagasse-based pulp. Wastepaper utilization can also be expected to increase. Although the quantities of hardwoods used will no doubt increase, their relative share of the total fibrous raw-material supply will probably stay fairly constant because of constraints on availability. The expected demand by 1988/ 89 (Table 7) is 2.6 million tonnes of paper and paperboard, compared with the production in 1979 of 1 million tonnes. Since there are constraints of various kinds on the availability of the different raw materials, these may affect the possibility of increasing the production to the extent required to meet the demand.

The capacity utilization in the Indian pulp industry in 1979 is illustrated in Table 8. The only type of pulp produced at a rate of capacity utilization considered close to normal - 85 percent - was bagasse pulp. Utilization of capacity in wood-pulping was only 69 percent and in straw-pulping as low as 25 percent. The size of the last-mentioned figure is due to the specific characteristics of this branch of the industry in India. An important reason for the comparatively low utilization of capacity in wood-pulping was constraints on raw-material availability. The bamboo-pulping capacity utilization was somewhat better - 76 percent.

Table 6. Theoretical average annual production of bagasse and straw In India, 1979-1981

	Unit	Amount
Bagasse	millions of GTa	39.8
Wheat straw	millions of ADTb	43.2
Paddy-rice straw	millions of ADT	93.9

Source: FAO 1981.

^a. GT = green tonnes at 50 percent moisture.
^b. ADT air-dry tonnes.

Table 7. Estimated demand for paper and paperboard In India(in thousands of finished tonnes)

	Local production	Estimated demand			Annual growth
		1978/79	1983/84	1988/89	1978-1988
Newsprint	48	245	313	400	5.0
Printing and writing paper	550	551	755	980	5.9
Kraft and wrapping paper	261	250	350	530	7.8
Paperboard	140	235	340	500	7.8
Other	7	100	150	220	8.2
Total paper and paperboard	1006	1381	1908	2630	6.7

Sources: FAO, 1980a, 1980c; Collins, 1978; Indian Planning Commission, 1982.

Table 8. Capacity utilization in Indian pulp mills in 1979

Pulp-mill type	Production (ADT)	Capacity (ADT)	Utilization (percentage)
Wood pulp	303000	440000	69
Bamboo pulp	630000	829000	76
Agricultural residue pulp	145000	425000	34
- straw pulp	50000	200000	25
- bagasse pulp	20000	25000	80
- other	75000	200000	38
Total	078000	1694000	64

Sources: FAO/UNEP. 1981 FAO. 1981: FAO, 1980b.

Table 9. Probable annual production of pulp and waste paper in India by 1990

Pulp type	Production (thousands of ADT)	Percentage
Wood pulp	530	24
Bamboo pulp	920	42
Agricultural residue pulp	350	17
- straw	100	5
- bagasse	150	7
- other	100	5
Waste paper	400	17
Total	2200	100

Source: FAO studies.

Table 10. Estimated annual requirements of fibrous raw materials in India in 1990

	Unit	Requirement
Wood	millions of m3	2.2
Bamboo	millions of ADT	2.0
Agricultural residues
- straw	millions of ADT	0.3
- bagasse	millions of GT	10
- other	millions of ADT	0.3

Source: FAO studies.

The possibility of establishing new mills to meet pulp demand by the end of the decade is no doubt very limited in view of the requirements of capital and infrastructure involved, especially when these are coupled with the time constraint. As a first measure, it would seem preferable to ensure that the installed capacity is utilized to the extent possible. Thus, an effort must be made to provide sufficient quantities of fibrous raw material to the existing mills. If this is combined with internal changes in the mills themselves, it should be possible to increase the efficiency of the wood- and bamboo-pulp mills to 85 percent and that of the straw-pulp and "other agricultural residue" pulp mills to 50 percent. In addition, it should be possible to reduce the fibre requirement from 1.19 air-dry tonnes per tonne of product in 1979 to a level of 1.10 air-dry tonnes per tonne by more appropriate measures for fibre retention.

Provided the efficiency of the industry can be increased as indicated above and that some investment is made both in expansions and in new mills in hitherto-unutilized areas, the quantities of pulp given in Table 9 could be produced by 1990. Taking into account the quantity of paper that can be produced from this and the possibility of recovering 20 percent of the total paper consumption in the form of waste paper, the total fibre availability by 1990 would be about 2.2 million tonnes per year.

This quantity of pulp and waste paper would be sufficient to produce about 2 million tonnes of paper, as against an estimated demand of 2630000 tonnes of paper and paperboard by the end of the decade; this means that some 650000 tonnes of paper and paperboard would have to be imported to meet the demand. These imports would have a value of about US$ 500 million per year at present (1983) prices. According to a listing of probable pulp and paper projects in India, including expansions (FAO, 1982a), the total additional capacity in paper and board-making in the 1980s would amount to about 1 million tonnes. While this corresponds fairly well to the above figures, some plans may not materialize and others - new ones may be implemented instead. In addition, the estimates given in Table 9 include improved utilization of the already-existing capacity in pulping and paper-making.

Another confirmation of the production estimates is given by the estimated pulping capacity in 1986 - a total of 2.1 million tonnes, of which 1.6 million tonnes would come from non-wood pulping, including bamboo (FAO, 1982b). Taking into account implementation of the measures assumed above, the possibility of arriving at a provision of 2.2 million tonnes of fibre by 1990 seems quite realistic.

It should be emphasized in this context that even this insufficient future estimated production target can only be met if a serious effort is made to ensure adequate supply of fibrous raw material to the mills. Establishment of new resources, even on a fairly modest scale as a first step, should therefore be given very high priority by both the Government and the industry, along with the collection and recovery of possible fibrous raw materials.

The quantities of fibrous raw materials needed for the production of pulp as estimated for 1990 in Table 9 are given in Table 10. Thus, there would be an increase in the requirement for wood and bamboo of 1 million m³ and 0.7 million tonnes respectively, in comparison with 1979. The total estimate of bamboo requirement corresponds to about 17 percent of the present growing stock of pure bamboo stands, which seems to be a realistic possibility. A major relative increase in raw-material requirement is shown for bagasse - about tenfold compared with 1979 - which reflects its expected importance as a raw material for pulp and paper in the future in India.

By the year 2000. Assuming that the rate of growth in demand for paper and paperboard during the 1990s would be as low as 3 percent per year, the total paper requirement in India by the end of the century, would be 3.6 million tonnes. From the production estimate of 2 million tonnes by the end of this decade, paper production would have to increase by at least 80 percent by the year 2000. The fibre requirement for this would most likely have to be met by a very substantial increase in the capacity for wood-pulping, which would have to account for the most important share of the increased output. This means, first, that new mills would have to be established in areas where utilization of the forest resource so far has been negligible. Second, and at the same time, establishment of hardwood plantations would have to be speeded up in order to supply sufficient fibrous raw material to the existing industry and to make it possible to implement expansions in the already-operational mills. Third, regeneration in the forest-resource areas already used for supply of pulpwood should be ensured by the introduction of fast-growing exotic or domestic wood species suitable for pulping and paper-making.

If these steps are taken now, India will likely be able to meet the increased demand for pulp and paper through sustainable production of raw materials without having to substantially increase the purchase of imported raw materials.

POPLAR PLANTATION ON THE SUBCONTINENT: one way to meet future demand

References

COLLINS. T. T. 1978 An assessment of the possibilities for the use of agriculture residues and some non-wood plant fibres for the manufacture of paper, paperboard and newsprint in India. New Delhi, FAO working document No. 21.

DEVELOPMENT COUNCIL FOR PAPER PULP AND ALLIED INDUSTRIES. 1977 Feasibility of mother pulp mills and small paper mills. Preprint for working group meeting discussion. Delhi.

FAO. 1980a Estimated production of pulp, paper and paperboard in certain countries in 1979. Rome.

FAO. 1980b Pulp and paper capacities: survey 1979-84. Rome.

FAO. 1980c Markets for bleached hardwood pulp and printing and writing paper in India: preliminary assessment of utilization of Andaman hardwood for paper pulp by L. Lintu. Rome, Working Paper No. 3.

FAO. 1981 1981 production yearbook. Rome.

FAO. 1982a Projected pulp and paper mills in the world. Rome.

FAO 1982b Pulp and paper capacities: survey 1981-86. Rome.

FAO/UNEP. 1981 Tropical forest resources assessment project forest resources of tropical Asia. Rome.

INDIAN PLANNING COMMISSION. 1982 Planning commissions's estimate for demand of paper. Indian Pulp and Paper. June-July.

STATE BANK OF INDIA. 1980 Monthly Review. February.