Turkey dependant to imported paper pulp

ISTANBUL - Anatolia News Agency

This photo shows paper rolls in a Turkish plant. Turkey imports big amounts of pulp.

The dependency on paper pulp imports should be curbed, chairman of the Pulp and Paper Foundation Erdal Sükan has said. Turkey imported 750,000 tons of paper pulp in 2011, he said yesterday.

Sükan said there was currently no forest planted for paper pulp production. “A newly planted tree is ripe enough to be used for paper pulp production within between 12 and 15 years ... The state used to possess all the forest in the country. Now the private sector is eligible to plant forests, but the private sector lacks enough capital to finance planted forests and cannot wait for 10 or 12 years, despite incentives. There are no viable incentives in this field,” he said.

Pulp paper production has strategic importance, Sükan said, adding that the domestic market was dependent on foreign cartels. Turkey produced 2.8 million tons of paper and cardboard last year, while importing 2.7 million tons, he said.

The structural problem of the paper and cardboard sector in Turkey is the high cost stemming from the higher prices of raw material and energy compared with foreign rivals, according to Sükan.