With the objective of strengthening their own recycling of paper in India, Japan Pulp & Paper Co. has formed the company OVOL Fibre Solution India Private Limited through a joint venture with Papyrus Recycling Private Limited. This is the first company of the Group to use the group brand name OVOLin its company name. The Indian economy, helped by the second largest population in the world with 1.26 billion people, has recorded a continuous growth and, consequently, has also seen a growth in the demand for graphic paper, like newsprint. Furthermore, the quantity of paper and cardboard produced in 2019 should reach 120% of the 2016 level.
In 2012 Japan Pulp & Paper purchased KCT Trading, a leading paper selling company with establishments located in the main Indian cities, integrating it into the Group and strengthening the sale of paper and cardboard throughout the country. At that time, an Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) was opened to strengthen commercial activities relating to the recycling of waste paper, which represents a significant raw material used in paper manufacturing. In India, the ratio of recycled paper used in paper manufacturing is about 60%. However, with environmental regulations which make it difficult to build new cellulose pulp factories and the fact that the recovery rate of waste paper in the country is currently only about 30%, India depends on importing the majority of its supply of paper for recycling. Consequently, even greater importance is being given to the recovery and recycling of supplies of domestic waste paper.
In addition to its work in the Indian wholesale paper market, the opening of an OFSI will allow the Japanese Pulp & Paper Group to create a system for the stable supply of waste paper used as raw material in paper manufacturing. Japan Pulp & Paper Group will continue to further strengthen and actively use its own paper recycling operations, and try to create a company oriented towards recycling in India, Japan and throughout the world.