Century Pulp & Paper is working towards innovative plastic replacement products

Century Pulp & Paper is working towards innovative plastic replacement products

- CPP's turnover contracted by 26% in FY 20-21.

- Indian paper and board prices will be highly dependent on aggressive Chinese buying. Industry has lost, not only its business volumes, but also price realisation to a large extent.

Lalkuna | 5th July 2021 | The Pulp and Paper Times: 

During last one-year, the entire world has witnessed a serious challenge on account of the Covid pandemic. Paper industry being one of the oldest and core industrial manufacturing sector in the world, this industry always acts as a mirror of socio-economic developments. Last one year, was one of the worst years for the paper industry. Industry has lost, not only its business volumes, but also price realisation to a large extent

“The global pulp industry witnessed price volatility due to disruptions caused by the pandemic that affected the entire supply chain. The pandemic also accelerated the de-growth of writing/ printing paper and newsprint, given the increased pace of digital adoption across businesses and the closure of educational institutions, malls, shops, theatres and other commercial establishments. On the domestic front, Indian paper and board prices will be highly dependent on aggressive Chinese buying, given that environmental regulations have restricted Chinese pulp manufacturing,” said Mr. Kumar Mangalam Birla, Chairman of Century Textiles and Industries Limited in the Annual report for FY 2020-21

“Our pulp and paper business witnessed high volatility during the year. Products such as board and tissues witnessed heightened demand from pharmaceutical and FMCG customers due to the pandemic. At the same time, demand for writing and printing paper declined, as educational and other institutions remained shut. Turnover contracted by over 26% from INR 2,383 crore to INR 1,774 crore,” said Mr. J. C. Laddha, Managing Director, CTIL in the report.

Mr. Birla further said that the year saw Century Pulp and Paper increase its offering of value-added products such as tissue and paperboard, a trend that will continue going forward. While rising consumer consciousness for health and hygiene led to higher demand for tissues, the growth in demand for pharmaceutical products raised the demand for paperboard. Given the agility of operations, the business was able to make the necessary changes to shift to paperboard manufacturing with greater focus. The company was thus able to sustain higher utilisation levels and even undertake planned expansion for tissue manufacturing to cater to the increased demand.

Mr. Laddha informed the shareholders in the report that reacting with agility to the situation, we increased our tissue-making capacity by 100% by expanding with a new plant. To service the growing demand for tissues, we have invested INR 100 crore in capacity upgradation over the last few years. This enabled our enterprise customers to meet the demands of their consumers, thus ensuring business continuity for our partners. Additionally we decided to utilise the idle capacity of writing and printing paper in order to cater to the demand of other products, such as packing boards. We also responded to the emerging opportunities in the health and hygiene sector and came up with innovative offerings such as disposable bed roll and barber hygiene kits, which are both eco-friendly and anti-microbial.

“Providing the best quality products, without affecting the environmental and socio-economic standards is the sole focus for us as we strive to achieve customer-centricity at Century Pulp and Paper. Innovation, technology, R&D and designing capabilities are some of our USPs,” said Mr. J. P. Narain, CEO, Century Pulp and Paper.

“Our pulp and paper business is agile and sustainability-focused. Additionally, we are developing a roadmap to ensure sustainable supply of raw materials, which includes maintaining our own plantations or tying up with agricultural universities. We are also working towards innovative plastic replacement products, especially packaging products in FMCG and pharmaceutical segments,” Informed by Mr. Laddha, Managing Director at CTIL.

Mr. Narain clears the picture on the new products that CPP is working upon; we are developing biodegradable and compostable barrier coating to paper, for providing sustainable solutions with plastic coating replacement in the food packaging industry. We successfully replaced PE Coated paper cups and food containers with BioPBS based barrier coating to paper cups and food containers. We are further working on developing 10 products to replace plastic coating.

Mr. Narain looks optimistic in the report that Government’s initiatives, to implement new education policy w.e.f. FY 22, will also help in boosting additional demand of writing & printing paper, during 2nd half of FY 22. 

“Major part of last one year, was under a Lockdown situation for the entire world. As a result, world-wide Imported Pulp productions fell to their lowest levels. In addition, International disruptions in Supply Chain and Logistics services, further restricted movements of imported pulp. All these factors together resulted in a sharp increase in pulp prices. With shrinking forests and stringent norms imposed by various regulatory authorities to curb pollution and to save the environment, there are plenty of challenges in the normal availability of raw material for the paper industry,” Mr. Narain said.

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