The French paper industry remains fragile due to a glaring lack of national investment in the sector. Over 60% owned by foreign groups, it is lagging behind China, the country that invented the medium, and Germany, which has been able to maintain its development efforts. It is no less valiant, however, because even if sales of graphic paper are falling, e-commerce is opening up new prospects in the industrial paper sector. Ironically, you could say that it is the intangible that is giving French paper a new lease of life.

An industry dependent on external factors

Printing has eaten its fill, and information is no longer conveyed by paper but by digital networks. Even the face value of a signature at the bottom of a document is replaced by a digital certificate. A different medium for different times. In addition to the digitisation of written documents, the paper industry is suffering from its production model. It uses a lot of water and energy. The 8 million tonnes of French paper produced last year were not produced under the best of ecological auspices in our carbonised and dried-up world. The fact remains that half of this production is exported. But when we talk about paper, it’s important to realise that we’re not just talking about graphic papers for printing and writing. Most of the 12,500 workers in 85 plants and 75 companies in France are employed in packaging, hygiene and industrial papers. Last year they were still giving life to 130 paper machines. This heavy industry has simply become too dependent on the vagaries of energy, both for consumption and production. It needs to reinvent its business model.

Paper has a future in the web to store

A major invention like paper can only survive. Paradoxical as it may be, paper will be saved by electricity. It’s the invention of information networks that allow users, mostly from their smartphones, to order packaged products from wherever they like. This system, graciously called web to store, allows any type of product, even bulky ones, to be delivered to the home or office. Competition is fierce in this market, which is largely dominated by Amazon. Nevertheless, these deliveries are made in the best possible packaging conditions, a boon for industrial paper. Moreover, the quality demands of these multinational customers will have a very beneficial and stimulating effect on those who still believe in the strength of the packaging paper company. We shouldn’t forget either that graphic paper is making a comeback, particularly as an essential component of POS advertising, complementing online sales. What’s more, many online printers offer on-demand book printing, so e-mails are gone, but printed matter remains. You can set paper on fire, but there’s always a trace of it.

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