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In recent years, the growth of China's per capita GDP and the changes in the living habits of the new generation have promoted Brazil's pulp exports to China. In the first 10 months of this year, Brazil exported 5.7 million tons of cellulose to China, compared with 1.8 million tons in the same period in 2012.

u3000u3000 China's demand for health care products is increasing

u3000u3000 The Brazilian website "UOL" reported on November 17 that one of the reasons for the increase in Chinese consumption of pulp is the change in hygiene habits, such as the widespread use of diapers, sanitary napkins, and double or multilayer toilet paper. "The new generation of China has higher requirements for personal care products and consumes a lot of westernized products." said 63-year-old Chinese Paulo Chen. He was born in Pingtung, southern Taiwan, and has lived in Recife for 50 years.

u3000u3000 World Bank data show that China’s per capita GDP has grown exponentially since 2000, jumping from US$959 in 2000 to US$10,500 in 2020. Daniel Sasson, an agricultural trade analyst at Itaú BBA, said: "This growth has driven China's demand for Brazilian products, mainly from agriculture and mining."

u3000u3000 According to data from the Brazilian Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply (Mapa), in 2021, 36.33% of Brazilian agricultural exports are destined for China. Forestry products (cellulose, paper and rubber) are Brazil’s third largest agricultural exports. The first two are soybeans and meat. China is also the largest buyer. In terms of cellulose alone, 40.8% of Brazil’s exports went to China in October this year. China uses these celluloses to manufacture various sanitary products, from sanitary napkins to wet wipes, disposable diapers and so on.

u3000u3000 Sustainability is the future development trend

u3000u3000 Daniel Sassen believes that in the next few years, the demand for Brazilian cellulose will increase for the manufacture of toilet paper and other products, such as packaging paper that replaces plastic, because the world is seeking sustainable products. On the other hand, he predicts that the demand for printing paper will decline, because with the new crown epidemic, many people stop printing, and digitization has given birth to the accelerated use of electronic documents.

u3000u3000According to the Brazilian Plantation Industry Association (Iba), Brazil has a total of 9 million hectares of planted forests, and another 5.9 million hectares are used for permanent protection, legal protection and private natural heritage protection. Data from the Brazilian Ministry of Agriculture show that the production of Brazilian forest products is also accelerating. In 2012, the output of forest products was 14.2 million tons, and in 2020 it will increase to 27 million tons, an increase of 190%. Between 2012 and 2020, Brazil produced 211 million tons of forest products, of which 24.8% (52.3 million tons) were bought by China.

Wilson Andrade, executive chairman of the Association of Forest Products Companies of Bahia (Abaf), observes that not only the Chinese market, but also the European and American markets, the demand for forest products is also increasing. This is due to the increasing demand for petroleum products. Reduce, for example, plastic. "The forestry sector produces more than 5,000 different products. The epidemic has accelerated the use of some products, such as paper packaging used in food delivery services." He said.

u3000u3000 In addition, Andrade also emphasized the sustainability bias of the forest product production chain. According to the Brazilian Plantation Industry Association, the department voluntarily adopts a certification program to ensure the traceability and responsible origin of its products, and has a number of international certifications, including the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification and the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) certification Wait.