The paper industry has been among the industries hit hard by COVID-19. As schools, colleges and many offices across the country continue to remain shut, demand for paper has shrunk, said AS Mehta, President & Director of JK Paper in an interview to CNBC-TV18.

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Yet, things are not as bad as feared.

“Close to 50 percent of our turnover comes from the copier paper which is called office paper and it is predominantly used in the offices. The education sector is also a consuming copier paper, I would say that post-COVID let us say last two months despite the school, colleges, and universities are shut still the consumption is close to 75-80 percent back from pre-COVID levels. So 75-80 percent it has come back,” he said.

“Once the offices start operating fully, schools and colleges are opened to my mind it should be back to 100 percent or maybe 2-3 percent higher than what we used to see. So there may be some growth once these institutions they start operating,” he said.

He said that FMCG and pharmaceutical companies were doing well and so the packaging board segment was back to 95 percent pre -COVID levels. “I would say 95-100 percent. Coated paper consumption is back to 60-70 percent,” he said.

On the upcoming Gujarat plant Mehta said it would increase overall capacity to around 2,75,000 -3,00,000 tonne.

“Gujarat plant is expected to be commissioned in April-May, and expect commercial production to start from June and July,” he added.

Watch this video for more.

(Edited by : Santosh Nair)

First Published:Dec 9, 2020 2:54 PM IST