Importance of Pulp and Paper Industry is reviewed in this article. We hope you find the article informative and helpful for your findings.
Pulp and paper industry process
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The sector stands for that aspect of the Nigerian economy that deals with pulp, paper products, printing, and publishing.
Industries in this sector include the following pulp industry, paper, and board converter industry, printing industry, and publishing industry.
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Pulp, Paper, and Paper Products sector constitute an important industry in any nation’s economy. In today’s world, where documentaries are made and printed for various purposes, the Pulp, Paper, and Paper Products Sector can not be ignored.
Its essentiality is really seen in the publishing and paper industries. Products that emanate from these industries include different types of writing paper and exercise books, stationery, printing papers, newsprint papers, toilet papers, textbooks, packaging materials, currency papers, and decorative papers.
In Nigeria, the use of paper and paper products continues to increase as the level of literacy increases. Newspaper houses need about 60,000 mt for full operation but Oku-lboku Paper mill’s capacity is about 30,000 mt.
Generally, this sector currently operates at less than 50 percent of normal capacity. This situation arose from the lack of adequate development of local raw materials and the lack of sufficient foreign exchange for the importation of raw materials.
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In the early seventies, five pulp and paper factories were planned for the country in Iwopin, Jebba. Oku-Iboku. Oyo and Benin. Today only Jebba and Oku-lboku have taken off.
The raw materials input into the operation of the sector is extensive. The basic raw material is derived from forests. The pulp and paper-producing countries of the world are those nations that possess appreciable forest resources example of such nations are Canada, Brazil, the United States of America, and Scandinavian countries.
Nigeria is deficient in raw materials for this sector. Ninety percent of chemicals and human resources at the two operating Pulp and Paper mills are imported.
Faced with this disturbing reality, the promotion of local sourcing of raw materials or indigenous technology becomes difficult.
The priority area for research and development in the area of pulp, paper, and printing is the development of local substitutes for imported long fiber.
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When local substitutes are developed, maintained, and effectively managed they boast the domestic production of Pulp, Paper, and Paper Products Sector to a very large extent and the Nigerian economy at large.
Also, urgent development of the factory which will produce key chemicals for the sector. The key chemicals are caustic soda, chlorine, hydrogen peroxide, and sodium sulfide.
Many factories that produce the necessary chemical go through a lot of economic setbacks and economic crises and it affects the development of the factory.
The government and the private sector should assist in the development of the factory urgently. This will encourage domestic production and discourage unnecessary importation of materials that can be locally produced.
Conclusively, the greatest opportunity for investment in the local sourcing of raw materials in the industry is in afforestation.
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Also, the government should make available to private investors, joint venture proposals in areas of manufacture of pulp and chemicals from foreign companies such that technology can be imported and thereafter adapted to local situations.
