paperloop.com
BRUSSELS, July 23, 2001 (paperloop.com) - "With a turnover of Euro 4,100 million ($3,491 million) in 2000, the Spanish pulp & paper industry is in full expansion," said Juan Villena, president of Spain's Association of Pulp, Paper and Board Producers (ASPAPEL) at the presentation of the association's annual statistical report. "The industry is involved in several large-scale industrial expansion projects to increase capacity. The high level investments have increased paper and paperboard production by 1 million tonnes in the last five years," he added.
Spain is high in the ranking of pulp and paper producers in the European Union (EU), with 15 pulp mills and 132 paper and board mills.  Pulp production rose by 4.2 percent to 1.750 million tonnes.
In total, Spain consumed 6.824 million tonnes of paper and board in 2000, some 6 percent higher than the previous year, taking the total growth figure for the past five years to 32 percent. Despite the dramatic growth figures, Spaniards consume just 171 kg/capita of paper and board. When this figure is compared to the US's 347 kg/capita, German levels of 215 kg/capita or 245 kg/capita in Sweden, it is clear that Spain's pulp and paper industry has huge growth potential.
Home grown Pulp consumption rose by 11 percent to 1.578 million tonnes in 2000. Spain's pulp and paper producers sourced 27 percent of the wood and 17 percent of the recovered paper used as raw materials in 2000 through imports. The industry is working toward ways to source its furnish domestically though. To reduce Spain's raw materials deficit, both paper recovery and the harvesting of fast-growing species on wasteland need to be increased, ASPAPEL said. 
New technologies
Demand for printing/writing grades has leapt up by 31 percent over the same period to arrive at 1.957 million tonnes last year. The market has developed in tandem with the growth in demand for electronics and personal computers in Spain.
Household and sanitary papers
Demand for household and sanitary papers has risen by 35 percent between 1995-2000. Spain consumed 455,000 tonnes of these grades past year. Suppliers have fed the growing demand for tissue and sanitary products with the launch of new cleaning products and introduced new applications for personal hygiene and health goods.
Trade imbalance
Last year, Spain's producers exported 827,000 tonnes of pulp and 1.475 tonnes of paper. Exports accounted for 43 percent or nearly Pta 300 billion (Euro 2,164 million) of the overall turnover of Euro 4,100 million. The lion's share of exports went to EU countries, 89 percent for pulp. 
On the pulp side, exports dropped by 2.8 percent last year which came as a result of an 11 percent increase in domestic consumption. For every kilogram of pulp imported into Spain, the country exports 1.3 kg. Imports rose by 10.7 percent to 656,000 tonnes in 2000.Spain is one of the leading producers of eucalyptus pulp and domestic consumption of wood for pulp production stood at 5.564 million m3 in 2000. The fiber was sourced mainly from plantations of the fast-growing species, eucalyptus globulus and pinus insignis.