Ukraine may face with a shortage of paper this year

Kiev KBK, one of Ukraine's largest pulp and paper. Photo: Informupack

Ukraine may face with a shortage of paper this year, due to the recently imposed on its imports from Russia, according to recent statements, made by some Ukranian state officials and local media reports.

 

The biggest concerns are currently related with the segment of newsprint, as the suspension of its supplies to Ukraine may pose a threat to the local publishing sector.

 

That has been recently confirmed by the board member of Ukrainian Association of Periodical Publishers Sergei Chernyavsky.

 

As he told in an interview with the Ukranian "Strana.ua" business paper, the Ukrainian press is primarily published on Russian paper. As a result of the latest state ban, up to 25,000 people employed in the industry could lose their jobs. In addition, that may lead to a significant decline of production and sales of newspapers in Ukraine.

 

The situation is complicated by the fact that prices for EU and Chinese paper is by several times higher those from Russia.

 

In the meantime, local producers are unable to meet the local demand, as the current volumes of their production remains small, while one of the leading local paper producers Zhedachevsky pulp and paper mill was closed several years ago.

 

By: Eugen Gerden