bvdm: Solving paper shortages instead of artificially maintaining them

At the request of five European paper manufacturers, the EU Commission is reviewing the import duties on coated fine papers from China that have been in place since 2017 and would actually have expired now. The bvdm had already opposed these measures in 2017 and pleaded for no import duties to be imposed. Since then, the situation on the paper market has worsened. On the production side in the print and media industry, there has been an unprecedented paper shortage since mid-2021, as well as unpredictable price developments with non-binding delivery dates and long delivery times. In a brief survey conducted by the bvdm in February, 80 per cent of print and media companies said they were significantly affected by the situation on the paper markets, with 21 per cent even assessing the current situation as threatening their existence. 72 per cent have been unable to accept or have lost orders in 2022 due to the paper shortage, and 70 per cent expect a permanent reduction in sales due to the migration of print orders to digital alternatives.

"In view of the extreme economic burden on the printing industry, the bvdm is participating in the consultation on the expiry of anti-dumping and anti-subsidy duties. We appeal to the EU Commission to allow the import duties to expire. The paper manufacturers' argument that they need to protect themselves against price dumping is invalid in view of the shortage situation," says Dr Paul Albert Deimel, General Manager of the bvdm. The risks of a continuing paper shortage are too great: "What counts now is a sufficient supply of affordable paper to continue to maintain print production - and thus also an important market for the paper industry."