Increased need for foreign wood danger to paper industry
Board director of paper manufacturer The Navigator Company João Lé warned on Tuesday of the lack of raw materials in the forestry sector, particularly pulp and paper, emphasising that the growing use of wood from outside the Iberian Peninsula is “not sustainable” and “kills” the business.
“The lack of raw materials is a major challenge we face. It’s not just our industry, but we have a lack of raw materials and this lack is becoming more and more noticeable,” he said during a hearing at the Agriculture and Fisheries Committee in parliament.
Due to the lack of national raw materials, João Lé pointed to a growing “dependence on outside wood, especially from Latin America”, which “has been accompanied by an increase in the price of raw materials” in Portugal.
“From 2016 to 2022, the price of the national raw material increased by 43%. So when you hear that there are no price increases, it’s not true, there are price increases,” he emphasised.
As he explained, the “cost of using outside wood” is that “you can’t have sustainable production cycles, because pulp prices are regulated by the world market, they’re not set by individual operators”.
“We’re feeling more and more that it’s preferable to stand still than to produce with foreign wood,” said the Navigator director, warning that, as a result, the shortage of domestic wood could force the closure of mills “for periods of up to two or three months”.
“There are increasing periods in which we are forced to produce with foreign wood and this is not sustainable and is killing the sector,” he emphasised.
In his speech, João Lé also recalled that, at the request of the previous government, “a proposal for a sector agreement was presented, which had three scenarios” and which “remained in the transition dossier”.
At the time, the executive opted for the scenario “that doesn’t lead to an increase in the area of eucalyptus, but wants to value and protect the forest with active management, increase production, reduce the risk of fire, encourage the planting of native species and encourage agents to meet the targets of the national climate plan”.
“In other words, we want to combine the forest’s long cycle with raw material needs, acting on various axes: for example, uprooting some areas of eucalyptus and planting them with native trees, in others replanting these areas and in others planting them elsewhere, encouraging native trees,” he said.
According to the Navigator director, “the national forest needs scale, grouped management and a look at the portfolio”, as well as “a tax regime that favours long-term interventions”, a simplification of licensing regimes and more incentives.
In addition, he told the members of the Agriculture and Fisheries Committee, we need an Institute for Nature Conservation and Forests (ICNF) that “works”, “acts with time” and has “people on the ground”.
