Vietnam

According to local media reports in Vietnam, after the Vietnamese government restricted the import of solid waste, companies in many industries in Vietnam, such as packaging, paper and plastics, had to face the dilemma of suspending production due to lack of raw materials.

　　 Dang Van Son, secretary-general of the Vietnam Pulp and Paper Association, said that import restrictions have caused great damage to the Vietnamese paper industry. Currently, Vietnamese paper mills can only import waste paper with zero impurities as raw materials for smooth customs clearance. In addition, some paper-making and packaging companies’ licenses for importing waste paper have expired for more than three months. Although the companies have sent new applications to the examination and approval authorities many times, the approval authorities have suspended the issuance of the new licenses, which has greatly affected the production of the enterprises. influences.

    70% of Vietnam's paper production requires waste paper as raw materials, 40% of the waste paper raw materials are provided by Vietnam, and all the rest are imported. In 2018, Vietnam's domestic recyclable waste paper was 1.4 million tons and imported about 2.19 million tons. It is predicted that at the current growth rate, by 2025, Vietnam will need to import about 9 million tons of waste paper to ensure normal production.

　　 The paper industry accounts for 1.5% of Vietnam’s GDP, and exports generate US$1 billion in annual revenue. Vietnam's paper demand is expected to grow by more than 10% in the next 10 years. In particular, the demand for packaging paper will grow at a rate of 15% per year, reaching 10 million tons by 2025.

　　 Vietnam’s restrictions have also affected Chinese companies. It is understood that the new paper machine put into production by Taiwan Zhenglong could only use Vietnam’s domestic waste paper for production because it did not obtain a foreign waste permit; the new base that Nine Dragons Paper planned to build in Vietnam also failed due to environmental protection reasons. Approved.

　　In fact, countries including Vietnam, Malaysia, and India are all facing the same development problems as China. On the one hand, the government hopes to limit the import of solid waste and reduce the environmental pollution of “foreign garbage” to the country. The top leaders of China, Vietnam, and Malaysia have stated in public on many occasions that they will not sacrifice the environment for economic growth. On the other hand, due to the sudden implementation of the policy, it has had a great impact on the company. The lack of raw materials and the sharp increase in costs have prevented the company from producing normally.

　　Improving import standards, increasing investment in environmental protection, and reducing environmental hazards. What Chinese companies are doing has now become a countermeasure for Vietnamese paper mills to get rid of their difficulties.