David Hillman
, an independent pulp and paper consultant, wonders if the sale of American pulp mills to foreign investors — mostly Chinese — is good or bad. The analysis is published on-line by the
Gerson Lehrman Group
(GLG), which, according their website, manages the world’s leading network of experts.
The major implication is that major North American assets are
coming under the complete control of Asian (mostly Chinese) companies
and there is no secret that 100% of these mills’ production will be going straight back to China. Current global customers of these mills are already scrambling to find alternative suppliers – and, in a tight market, this is not easy! Will the new Chinese owners be willing to keep the mills updated with new technology and environmental regulations or
will they be run into the ground until they literally fall apart
? How many more market pulp mills will China seek to purchase to
feed their enormous appetite
– estimated this year to be 8.5 million mt of virgin market pulp? Several mills have reported huge losses for 2007 with little remaining cash reserves. Will the Chinese
pounce
on these mills like hungry vultures – buying them at greatly distressed prices and far below their replacement costs?
[Go to the article]
This article appears in Humboldt At War.
Looking at the Gerson Lehrman link, the hair on the back of my neck came up. Its real scary. Their stable of experts seem more like damage controllers for corporate wrongdoing. Either its a FBI front to identify anarchist John Birchers or a way to convert sane people to conspiratorialism.
John Birchers are cool although mis understood these days. I wouldn’t worry to much about a great take over. I remember well the 70’s when Japan was buying all the cattle ranches and New York high rises. We got them back and balance will always find its way.
At Evergreen Pulp in Samoa, only 60% of our virgin pulp goes to China. Most of the rest to Korea. We sell all of our Totally Free Kraft White Pulp on the open market. We exceed any North American environmental standards for pulp mills and are in fact the only running pulp mill in California. Evergreen is seeking further environmental improvements in the near future.
Personally, I would like to see Evergreen do more “value added” business in the form of producing a finished product in Humboldt county/stateside.
I would like to see newsprint, egg cartons, milk cartons, ice cream cartons, paper cups, napkins, facial tissue, toilet paper, tampons, diapers and paper towels produced on the Samoa peninsula.
We do the environmentally envasive process of turning a raw product (Wood chips) into a pulp product. I would like to see us do an environmentally benign process of turning this pulp into a finished product.
To turn pulp into a finished product, you just need water and forms. We have plenty of room and ideas. We just need community support.
That’s an intelligent comment Richard. Maybe there’s hope for us.
That would be a perfect idea for the Headwaters Fund to look into.
The Chinese government is one of the most oppressive in the world, yet the U.S. seems to have no problem doing big business with them. If the U.S. gov’t is so concerned about “spreading democracy,” why doesn’t it invade China and put an end to all the horrible practices that are taking place there? No, the U.S. has to pick on small nations to expand empire, and big money trumps morals, in the case of China.
If clearcutting and old growth logging were banned, and toxic chemicals removed from the process, then having a local pulp mill produce products for our local economy would be great. Earth First!
Invading China does not sound like the peaceful, non-violent action that our country should choose to partake in. Yes, it is a fact that the people of China and especially the people of Tibet are oppressed and abused by the Chinese government. But an invasion doesn’t sound like an Earth First! action to me. Maybe the US should concentrate efforts on diplomatic relations with China, possibly persuade them economically to respect human life and the environment. Just a thought…
If we invaded China, they might make us pay back what we owe them. That would be bad.
If we wait another few months, we could pay them back while the dollar isn’t worth a shit, and then invade. Double whammy.
The one thing people seem to intentionally or by ignorance seem to ignore is that THESE ARE COMMUNISTS. RED COMMIES FOR GODS SAKE. Just because they have money, dont be lulled into a fanciful dreamland of providing jobs. Rex could be a double agent if I am reading this article correctly.
Ooo, more Mcarthyistic red scare propaganda. Are you voting for Mccain or Hitler, Ivan? Their both the same…
Yeah, why can’t china follow the US’s outstanding example of good environmental practices? (sarcasm)
We shouldn’t waste our Military on China, we should just nuke the crap out of them.