Ghana Journal of Forestry Vol. 3 1996

PAPER IMPORTS AND CONSUMPTION PATTERNS IN GHANA

NICHOLAS A. DARKW A

FORESTRY RESEARCH INSTITUTE OF GHANA UNIVERSITY P. O. BOX 63, KUMASI, GHANA.

ABSTRACT

This study has been undertaken to show trends in imports of pulp and paper products into Ghana from 1961 to199-1 and the amount of waste paper generated at the printing houses. The results of the imports study reveal thatthe total imports are intimately linked up with socia-economic growth and political stability of the country. Thestudy shows that packaging materials are increasing in importance, so also are the speciality papers. Culturalpapers continue to be the leading paper product imported into the country over the period studied.it has also been shown that the waste paper generated at the printing houses using reels is much less than that

generatedfrom sheets. The total average of waste is 11.61%.

Ke)· words: Imports, paper products, consumption, printing press, waste.

INTRODUCTION

That paper is a commodity vital to the growthand development of every country cannot beover emphasised. Paper is important incommunications, households, education andpackaging. The amount of paper and paperproducts consumed is a vital statistics indetermining the level of development of acountry. Such statistics also show trends inconsumption which are vital for the analysis of

. demand, thus helping to forecast the future levelof demand which, for instance will indicate theappropriate size of mills to be built.Ghana in the past quarter of the century hastried to look for avenues to erect its own pulpand paper mill. That this has not materialised isnot because the raw material base is not

available but rather, it is thought that theconsun1ption of paper in the country is too lowto support such a venture. It is also felt that thecompetition on the export market is too keen forGhana to make her debut at this time. But the

low level of consumption in the country isbelieved to be suppressed due to the followingfactors;

(I) Socio-economic factors and(2) Poor data on imports into the country.

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Thus this study was undertaken to look at theimport data in the country and attempt to relatethe various levels of imports to some factorsthat may help to explain consumption patterns.Also the consumption and waste generated inthe printing houses were looked at.

METHODOLOGY

A. Imports

A study of published data on paper imports andconsumption in Ghana has been given by threemam sources:-

(a) Pulp and Paper International(b) Food and AgricultureOrganisation (FAO)(c) External Trade Statistics of Ghana.

The data from these sources seem to be quite thesame except for one or two years in the 1970's.Thus in this analysis the data from ExternalTrade Statistics would be used. The data wastherefore collected from the Statistical Services

Department. It should be mentioned that thefigures for the years 70, 79, 80, 81, 84, 86, 87,88,89,90 and 91 were not available.

TABLE 1: Total Imports of Pulp and PaperProducts, Newsprint and the Percentage ofNews-Print to Total Imports for the Years1960 - 1994

Such factors include:

• Shortage of foreign currency for purchases inthe world market.

• Low Per Capita Income• The literacy rate.• Level of Industrial and technological

development.• Multiple use of paper and paper products.• Stability of the political environment.

Year Total ImportsNewsprint%

(Tons)Import

(Tons)1960

6.4 4.570.311961

15.3 3.724.181962

14.7 4.731.971963

23.3 5.724.46

196430.3 12.942.57

196547.8 20.957.88

196653.9 31.257.88

196734.8 11.432.76

196827.8 6.322.66

196930.2 7.123.51

197128.8 3.913.54

197215.2 6.039.47

197325.6 7.629.69

, 197457.8 11.119.27

197575.6 7.29.52

197632.8 5.817.68

197731.4 6.621.02

197820.1 3.316.42

19836.3 1.015.87

19848.3 2.428.92

198512.4 1.310.48

8923.7 6.125.74

92143.0 106.074.13

93153.0 50.032.68

9450.0 35.070.00

Ghana Journal of Forestry Vol. 3 1996

B. Printing Houses Consumption

Sixteen printing houses were selected at randomin Accra and Kumasi to analyse theirconsumption and waste generation over a periodof two weeks (10 working days). The printinghou~es were selected to include big and smallprinting presses, government and private,newspaper printers and non-newspaper printers.At each printing press, the amount of paper andpaper products used per day was recorded and atthe close of the day the waste generated wasweighed. The percentage of waste generated wascalculated for each printing press.

RESUL TS AND DISCUSSION

I. Imports

A. Total Imports

Table 1 and Figure 1 show the total imports ofpulp and paper products, newsprint andpercentage of newsprint to the total importsfrom 1960 to 1994. There are four maxima in

1966, 1971, 1975 and 1992 and thereafter a

dramatic fall. The first three peaks correspondto periods of political instability in the country,(1966 - coup, 1971 - coup, 1975 introduction ofUrn-Government System). After these periodsthe imports of paper products into the countrystart to go down. The lowest level of importsoccurred around 1982 when the economy of thecountry was at its lowest ebb.

In 1983 the Economic Recovery Programmewas initiated and as the economy picked up theimports of pulp and paper products also pickedup. It has been noted that the economyslackened from 1993 as the exchange value ofthe Cedi steeply fell, reflecting in high costs toimporters. This resulted in sharp decrease inimports recorded in 1994(fig.l).The amounts of paper and paper productsconsumed are determined by several factors.While some of these factors are particularlycharacteristics of Ghana, they generally affectdeveloping countries.

56

Standard Deviation

MeanSource: External TradeStatistical Services, Accra.

18.5931.94

Statistics of Ghana,

Ghana Journal of Forestry Vol. 3 1996

IMPORTS (fONS)200 . ------- ---- u.

150

SOI~_~01, "1 I '-L-l

1960 1962 1964 1966 1968 1971 1973 1975 1977 1982 1985 1992 19941961 1963 1965 1967 1969 1972 1974 1976 1978 1983 1989 1993

YEARS

100

FIG,: IMPORTS OF PULP AND PAPER PRODUCTS

\V1T1-1YEARS (TONS)F 0 F:NCONSULT

G ~ GREENACRES

The complexity of the factors in Ghana hasmade it difficult to rely on mathematical modelsas tools for predicting growth rate. In 1972Greenacres Consultants predicted a growth rateof 8.9% based on imports up to 1969, whileFINCONSULT in 1978 projected 7.7% growthrate based on imports up to 1975. Figure 1shows that both predictions have beeninoperable. Perhaps, data over a much longerperiod is required to make a meaningfulprediction.One product that has consistently remainedconstant in terms of furnish and basis weight onthe world market is newsprint. Therefore werelated the import of newsprint to total imports'from 1960 to 1994. This varied from as low as

9.52% in 1975 to as high as 74.13% in 1992with an average of 31.94 and standard deviationof 18.59. The high increase in newsprint in 1992had to do with the reintroduction ofconstitutionalmle in 1992.

Another important factor is the high import of50% mechanical pulp (uncoated) in 1993. Therewas an increase from 1,350tons in 1992 to35,364tons in 1993. This product could easilybe used by the printing houses as a substitute fornewsprint.

B. Types Of Paper ProductsPaper as a commodity could be grouped intofour major categories:- 1. Cultural papers, 2.Packaging papers, 3. Hygienic papers and 4.Speciality papers. In Ghana cultural papers havetraditionally dominated the market withnewsprint occupying the topmost position.While this trend has been maintailled over the

years, (see Table 2), the market share of theother paper types is gradually increasing.

TABLE 2: Summary of Imports of PaperProducts (K~)

YEAR

HYGI-PACK-CUL-SPECIA-TOTAL

ENIC

AGINGTURALLITY

1973

34652666202149760 2515655

1976

106494486223686731006327795

1977

28931889323831150783314307

1978

49581581616724110861201037

1982

3867748 46968673063152

1983

14518696521521080283282

1985

124854108677716404124339

1992

107682311446495123181975798233142904410

1993

7195983556241144769757646122153234316

1994-

1145831340562530546989116245250085681-

* For first nine months of the year.Source: External Trade Statistics of Ghana,

Statistical Services, Accra.

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Ghana Journal of Forestry Vol. 3 1996

i. Printing and Writing Papers:

These products have continued to dominate themarket with variations coming from the differenttypes. Figure 2 shows that there was substantialdecrease in the imports of newsprint from106,004,834Kg in 1992 to 1,549,575Kg in 1994,

Fig 2 Year vrs Newsprint(kg)Newsprint(kg)120.000.000

100,000.000 t_ .\ •• - - •• - - - • - - - ••• - - - - •

199..11993

Yeilr

o1992

20000.000

40,QOO.OUO

80,000.000 L - - • \ - - - - - - - - - - - - •• - - • - - - •

60.000.000 .-

while Kraftpaper uncoated increased fromG,037,704Kg in 1992 to 91,556,133Kg in 1993 butdropped to 14,978,856Kg in 1994 (Fig. 3). The otherproduct which showed unusual behaviour is 50%mechanical paper uncoated which increased from1,349,687Kg in 1992 to 35,363,805Kg in 1993 butdecreased to 121,328Kg in 1994 (Fig 4). Thesefluctuations in the imports are due mainly to theimporters responding to .market forces. As long asthere is excess in the system, the importation of thatparticular product falls.

19941993

Year

o1932

20.000.000 ~- •

40.000.0001------1----· ---- -,---

80.000.000

60.000.000 .-. - .

Fig 3: Year vrs Kraft paper (uncoated)kgKraft Parer(uncoatedlkg100.000.000

iii. Speciality Papers

ii. Packaging

The significant change occurring in tIlis area is thebig increase in the importation of cartons, boxes andcases of corrugated medimn The imports rose from271,668Kg in 1992 to 7,414,817Kg in 1994 (Fig 5).This big increase could be attributed to the export ofagricultural produce (banana and pineapple) whichutilizes these boxes and has been on the increase inthese last years. The other significant observation isthe gradual decrease of multi-ply papers from5,561,429Kg in 1992 to 187,497Kg in 1994 (Fig 6).At the same time the share of the sack kraft paper hasalso been reduced, but not to the same extent asmulti-ply papers. This is rather surprising since thecement works are still producing at the same levels ifnot higher..The reason for this could be that someimporters are bringing them in through unauthorisedroutes.

TIle market share of these products is increasingeach year, but the significant observation isdifferent types imported each year. In 1992 only11 items were imported under this heading. Thisincreased to 13 in 1993 and 17 in 1994. The

types appearing on the market are those that areused by specialised equipment. This is areflection on the level of sophistication of theGhanaian people.

Fig 4: Year vrs 50%Mechnical paper(uncoatedlkg50')(. Mecll.lIl,Cilll\tpllrlllncu.tledJkg.,,,'~"l,••~,

Year

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Ghana Journal of Forestry Vol. 3 1996

Table 3 shows percentage waste generated at

various press houses. These varied from 2.22%to 33.62% with an average of 11.61% andstandard deviation of 8.19%.

1.OCQOOJ

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

The data from the different printing houses reflecton the manner of operation at the press. GhanaPublishing at Tema and Victoriaborg in Accra usemostly reels for their operation. So also are GraphicCorporation and New Times Corporation, except thatthe dailies producers utilize newsprint which isweaker, for tl1eir production, leading to a slightincrease in waste over the two GO\'ernment Printers.

B~st Time Press had an unusually low figurebecause of the tJP~ of printing job that they wereUl1d~ltakil1g at that time. They were producing astandard form for a manufacturing firm and thecommercial manager had designed tllc set-up so as toutilize the whole sheet with minimal off-cuts.

The other figures that need comment concern IKAMand Advent Press. The IKAM figures were providedby the management since outsiders are not allowedinto the printing house to see their operation. Underthe circumstances, it is vet)' difficult to comment onthe figure. The high value at Advent Press isprobably due to the production lines at that time.They were printing textbooks and other statio net)'.Textbook printing takes a long time. Thus during theperiod tlut we were there, they had already taken thesupplies for the books and therefore the. supplieswere not reflected in the intake of the period but theirwaste reflected on the general operations of the pressat the time of the exercise.

1'»<o

1~

".O:X\lm

-4,coo,rm

Y~

Ghana Journal of Forestry Vol. 3 1996

exist in the country from this source. And thereforeSuper Paper Products Company and other companiesmanufacturing egg trays should intensify theircollection efforts rather than engaging on imports ofwaste. What is needed is co-ordination betweenthem.

REFERENCES

External Trade Statistics of Ghana, StatisticalServices, Accra.

FL~NCONSULT OY (1978), Pulp and PaperProject, Feasibility Study, Government of Ghana (1):14 - 37.

Greenacres Consulting Corporation (1972),"Ghana: An Opportunity for a Pulp and PaperIndustry", National Investment Bank p 7 - 11.

Mayer, K.R, (1975), "Pulp and paper IndustryPotential in Eight West African Countries",ECA/FAO p 52 - 65 .

UNDPfFAO (1976), Preliminary Assessment of theTechno-Economic Viability of a Domestic Pulp andPaper Mill in Ghana, p 42 - 60.

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It is expected that after the household survey,currently underway sufficient data will have beencollected for analysis to enable a decision to be madewith respect to the setting up of a pulp and paper millin Ghana.