Profits have risen at the Chinese paper manufacturer Lee & Man, which is supplied by the UK’s Mark Lyndon Paper Enterprieses.
On revealing its end of year results for 2015, the company also predicted a strong future for the paper industry in China despite the recent slowdown.
The company said that net profits were HK$2.33 billion (£212 million) on revenue of HK$17.62 billion (£1.6 billion) to the end of 2015.
This was an increase in net profits of 22.4% on 2014.
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In its outlook statement for its business, Lee & Man said that its PM20 machine in Chongqing Industrial Park with an annual production volume of 320,000 tonnes and four tissue paper machines with production volume of 135,000 tonnes had opened in 2015.
It also benefitted from factories being shut down in Dongguan which reduced overcapacity in the market, as well as falling fuel and raw material prices.
Lee & Man also expects its 400,000 tonne per year machine in Vietnam to begin operation in the second half of 2016.
In its statement, Lee & Man added: “In order to solve the overcapacity and the environmental issues for the paper industry, the People’s Republic of China Government has steadily closed down obsolete production capacities in previous years.
“Local government authorities will impose more stringent environmental monitoring policies, which will shut down even more obsolete production capacities, thereby alleviating the supply over-demand situation for the paper industry and restoring the industry’s bargaining power.
“Despite the slowdown in the growth of the domestic economy and the consumption for packaging paper, the demand for packaging paper in China is expected to grow steadily in the long run.
“In addition, the rapid development of online shopping has led to fundamental changes in consumption and logistics models, benefitting the packaging paper industry which is currently in the process of consolidation. Hence, the Group is optimistic about the outlook of the paper industry.”
