| Affected by the rising international costs for raw materials and transportation, Taiwan's paper-making industry saw its production value drop 2.8% to NT$154.2 billion in 2005 from NT$158.6 billion in 2004.
Fueled by the rise in international pulp prices amid the growing global economic upturn, Taiwan's paper-making industry is poised to enjoy a turnaround this year, with its production and sales value expected to rebound to the 2004 levels. But local makers in the line should avoid vicious price competition and cope with the international merger trend by conducting a strict control of production volume to secure better sales prices.
To counter the intense competition seen after Taiwan's entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO), local makers of paper products have been working hard to cut production costs, upgrade product quality and switch their production lines abroad so as to boost their competitiveness. Although, more efforts are needed to integrate manufacturing processes and upgrade the level of the industry to survive keener competition seen after tariff on imported paper products was cut to zero in 2004. The local industry suffered an annual drop of 2.9% in the production of paper and paper boards, and managed to post an annual growth of 2.2% in exports. |
