June, 1954
An International Review of Forestry and Forest Products
FAO - The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Cover Photograph: Forestry can be introduced into almost all school subjects. A teacher at a school in West Virginia, U.S.A., giving instruction to pupils. Background shows art work, leaf collections and essays. By courtesy of the Soil Conservation Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture.
A challenge to investors
A recent survey entitled World Pulp and Paper Resources and Prospects, prepared by FAO in co-operation with UNESCO, ECE, and ECLA, estimates that world paper consumption, which averaged 47 million tons annually from 1960-52, will rise to 65 million tons annually in the early 1960's.
About 13 million tons of this increase will occur in Europe and North America, two regions which today satisfy a substantial proportion of the needs of the rest of the world. Because of this, their surplus production available for export is not likely to grow very rapidly.
Latin America, the Far East, the Near and Middle East and Africa, together with Oceania, now yearly consume about 4½ million tons of paper. Of this, over a third is imported from Europe and North America, as well as about half a million tons of pulp. During the next decade the paper requirements of these regions are expected to increase by close on another 4 million tons.
Many new pulp and paper mills are being built or are under consideration in all these regions; but the expansion contemplated in the coming decade only corresponds to just over half the expected increase in requirements.
The need for imports will therefore continue and grow. However, the rate at which consumption can increase in the next few years will be determined not so much by the extent to which increased imports can be obtained as by the pace at which domestic production rises. In the longer term, unless positive efforts are made to encourage expansion of domestic production, lack of adequate supplies of paper may hamper economic advance.
All these regions, with the exception of the Near and Middle East, possess ample resources of fibrous materials already demonstrated as suitable for paper-making. The obstacles to more rapid development are, generally speaking, economic and environmental rather than technical.
The situation calls, therefore, for more specific investigations with the object of encouraging the development of new capacity in favorable localities while guarding against the risk of misinvestment.
This electronic document has been scanned using optical character recognition (OCR) software and careful manual recorrection. Even if the quality of digitalisation is high, the FAO declines all responsibility for any discrepancies that may exist between the present document and its original printed version.
A selection of twenty-five publications from the five technical divisions of FAO
FAO Staff
Forestry
for all - Promoting Appreciation of a Nation's Forest Resources
Berwyn B. Thomas, Research Division, Rayonier Inc., Shelton, Washington,
U.S.A.
Postage
stamps tell forest industries importance
FAO Staff
Forest grazing
- Principles of management
Henry I. Baldwin, Research Forester, New Hampshire Forestry and Recreation
Commission, U.S.A.
Handling tree seeds
A. Koroleff, Director, Woodlands Research Division, Pulp and Paper Research
Institute of Canada, Montreal
Fundamentals
of logging steep slopes
Commodity report - Sawn softwood, 1952 and 1953
North America
Europe
Latin America
Africa
Asia
Pacific area
Prices
Technical meeting on forest grazing
Technical assistance activities
Near East poplar conference
General
Fundamental science
Silviculture
Forest injuries and protection
Mensuration and surveying
Forest management
Industry and trade
Forest products and their utilization
Forest policy
Selected reviews