Recently, the APP (Asia Pulp and Paper Co., Ltd.) issued a price increase letter, starting from September 1st, targeting all products produced by Ningbo Zhonghua Paper Co., Ltd./Ningbo Asia Pulp and Paper Co., Ltd. and Guangxi Jingui Pulp and Paper Co., Ltd., with a price increase of 500 yuan/ton (including tax).

The price of white cardboard in the market has also continued to rise, with the order price of white cardboard increasing by 500 yuan/ton since September 1st. Similarly, cultural paper will also be raised by 100 yuan/ton starting from September 1st, while previously, cultural paper had already risen by several hundred yuan. In addition, the release of the upgraded "plastic restriction order" has also led to an increase in the price of food paper.

Despite the price increase, the reporter learned in the interview that this price increase has little impact on the lives of the people.

Continuous price increases by manufacturers

"I received the price adjustment letter of app a few days ago, and the price will be increased by 500 yuan per ton from September 1." Zhang Qianqian, deputy general manager of Jinan Kanghui Paper Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Kanghui paper"), told the Economic Herald reporter. But for the range of 500 yuan / ton, Zhang Qianqian was a little surprised, "I thought of the price adjustment, and felt that the range was between 100-200 yuan, but I didn't expect to increase by 500 yuan / ton."

In fact, in addition to the price adjustment letter of app, Kanghui paper has received price increase letters from many companies throughout August.

Zhangqianqian told the reporter of economic herald that the price of Jinhai increased by 100 yuan / ton; Shanying raised its price by 50-100 yuan / ton; Chenming raised the price by 100 yuan / ton; Huatai raised the price by 100 yuan / ton; Sun paper raised the price of ordinary coated paper and double offset paper by 100 yuan / ton, yellow paper by 300 yuan / ton or more, and other products will also be raised according to the actual situation.

According to the reporter of Economic Herald, this is another round of price rise after a round of price rise in paper enterprises at the end of May and early June. These two rounds of price rise are mainly concentrated in the field of cultural paper.

Chenlijie, the deputy general manager of Jinan Fenghui Paper Co., Ltd., gave his answer to the reason for the coordinated price rise of the paper mill this time: "the paper mill adjusted the demand for production capacity, reduced the supply side again, and promoted the implementation of price increases. The demand increased in the second half of the year, while the uncertainties brought by the epidemic affected the mentality of the industry. At the same time, with the end of the summer vacation, September will enter the spring textbook bidding season, and the market price will rise."

Despite continuous price increases, the performance of base paper manufacturers is difficult to be optimistic.

According to the Research Report of Everbright Securities, the double offset paper decreased from 6450 yuan / ton at the end of 2019 to 5387.5 yuan / ton on June 19 this year, a decrease of 16.48%; Coated paper fell from 5950 yuan / ton to 5170 yuan / ton, a decrease of 13.11%.

When receiving investors in early June, sun paper said that in the short term, due to the complex and severe external environment and fierce internal competition in the industry, the overall prosperity of the paper industry fluctuated significantly. In particular, the current epidemic of covid-19 had a negative impact on the development of the paper industry, resulting in more fierce competition in the domestic paper market and even vicious price competition, which had a certain negative impact on the company's production and operation.

"Plastic restriction order" hot food paper

Following the price increase letter of 500 yuan / ton issued by white cardboard in the early stage, the food cardboard and cup base paper mills rose by 200 yuan / ton, and the order receiving price of large-scale paper mills increased as scheduled. As a substitute for disposable plastic products, white cardboard has stimulated terminal demand.

"I also received a notice that the price of food grade wood pulp paper has increased by 300 yuan / ton." xuzhengjun, who produces disposable paper cups in Jinan, said.

Xuzhengjun was not surprised by the price rise. "It is not surprising that the strict 'plastic limit order' has heated up food paper prices."

Despite the rise in prices, xuzhengjun still purchased a large number of raw materials.

"Now I feel weak when I receive orders. I am even ready to go to another line." xuzhengjun explained, "in the past, 60% of the production capacity was basically enough to cope with orders, but now even 100% of the full production capacity can not cope with continuous orders, and even some orders have been postponed.

According to the research of GF Securities, in the future, the increase of industry supply is limited, and the continuous implementation of the national "plastic limit order" will increase industry demand and push up the price of white cardboard. According to the opinions, by 2020, the production, sale and use of some plastic products will be banned and restricted in some regions and fields. West China Securities research team believes that white cardboard has consumer properties and is widely used, such as cigarette packs, food cards, medicine boxes, etc. In recent years, the compound growth rate of white cardboard demand has been 7% - 9%. With the steady progress of the superimposed plastic limit order, the demand is expected to continue to increase.

In fact, due to the impact of the epidemic of covid-19, the paper industry was not started enough after the Spring Festival in 2020, and the paper price ushered in a rising tide. From mid February to early March, some base paper mills have completed several rounds of price increases. According to the public data, some base paper mills have generally increased by 500-600 yuan / ton, and some have exceeded 1000 yuan / ton. After the "price rise tide", the paper price has increased by 30% - 50%.

It has little impact on people's lives

According to chenlijie, this price rise may be a price inflection point for this year's products. "After coming out of the downturn during the epidemic period, the price began to rise slightly and gradually. At present, the inventory of paper mills and downstream dealers is at a reasonable level. Out of concern about the continuous price rise, the downstream has a strong incentive to replenish inventory, and it is expected that this round of price rise will be well implemented. In the second half of the year, as the epidemic situation is further controlled, the normal opening of school for students will help improve demand, and the paper price is expected to continue to warm up."

The reporter found in the survey that although many insiders believe that the rise in paper prices has a certain continuity, the increase will not be too large. "On the whole, the paper price may show an upward trend, but the increase may be limited. It does not even rule out the possibility that the paper mill will sell at a profit." white paper analyst Wang Kai predicted.

The rise in paper prices has little impact on people's lives.

Xuzhengjun told the reporter of the economic herald that the cost pressure of the price rise is ready to be borne by himself. "This cost is still within the tolerable range. once it rises again, it cannot be ruled out that the price of the product will be appropriately raised. According to the current standard, it is estimated that the price rise of each bag of products will not exceed 1 yuan."

Chenlijie told the reporter of the economic herald that although the cost of their various learning notebooks has risen, the price is not ready to adjust.

"The price of paper in the past few months was relatively low, so the cost has also decreased a lot, but the ex factory price of the notebook has not been reduced, so we are not going to adjust the price this time." chenlijie said, "of course, if the price of paper rises again, we may adjust the price, but it is hard to say, we can only decide according to the situation at that time."

Similarly, Zhang Jian, the sales manager of Jinan Huixin Stationery Co., Ltd., said in an interview with the reporter of economic herald that they had received the notice from some upstream enterprises that the price of flat paper for one order (500 sheets) is now increased by 1 yuan, the price of positive (domestic standard) is increased by 2 yuan / order, and the price of Dadu (International Standard) is increased by 3 yuan / order.

Zhang Jian told the reporter of the economic herald that for products that manufacturers require price increases, they also decided to absorb the cost of price increases by themselves, and the terminal will not raise prices. "Not only consumers don't buy the price increases, but also retail terminals are hard to solve."