By RHIANNON JAMES-VAN BEUNINGEN, GRAEME RODDEN, MARK RUSHTON and ANNIE ZHU
Company 2008 Top P&B Output International Paper 1 17,128 Stora Enso 3 11,746 UPM 5 10,641 AbitibiBowater 14 7,589 Oji Paper 6 7,381 Nippon Paper 9 7,105 Smurfit Kappa 7 7,100 Smurfit-Stone Container 12 6,462 Svenska Cellulosa (SCA) 4 6,374 Mondi 10 5,775 Norske Skogindustrier 22 5,377 Nine Dragons Paper 44 4,300 Sappi 18 4,100 Domtar 16 3,916 Weyerhaeuser 20 3,618 Temple-Inland 29 3,455 NewPage 24 3,233 Shandong Chenming Paper 42 3,170 M-real 21 3,106 Cascades 27 3,032 Lee & Man 61 2,996 Daio Paper 23 2,900 MWV 17 2,814 Burgo 30 2,698 Holmen 36 2,524 Rengo 25 2,490 Boise Inc 43 2,478 Myllykoski 39 2,287 Packaging Corporation of America 34 2,089 Graphic Packaging 26 2,032 Siam Cement 56 2,000 Yuen Foong Yu Paper 57 1,870 Marubeni 13 1,748 RockTenn 32 1,660 Sun Paper 89 1,650 Lecta 38 1,646 Klabin 50 1,579 Catalyst Paper 48 1,557 Sonoco Products 28 1,555 Shandong Huatai Paper 87 1,543 Mayr-Melnhof Karton 33 1,527 Verso Paper 47 1,509 Palm 59 1,400 Hokuetsu Paper Mills 52 1,392 Hansol Paper 63 1,335 Durango 77 1,304 Sequana Capital 11 1,300 Billerud 66 1,278 Suzano 37 1,140 Cheng Loong 88 1,079 Portucel Soporcel 53 1,054 Korsnäs Holding 71 1,052 CMPC 31 1,000 DS Smith 41 1,000 Total of 54 companies 184,093
Perhaps it's a sign of the times that the top 10 companies remained unchanged although Stora Enso and Procter & Gamble (P&G) swapped places with P&G climbing into second spot.
Sequana Capital, headquartered in Paris, made a big move, all the way to Number 11 from 18 thanks to its acquisitions of Dalum Papir and Map in 2007. Despite all its troubles, AbitibiBowater made a big jump up the table to Number 14 in sales from 24, reflective of the combined operations of Bowater and Abitibi-Consolidated being counted as one entity in 2008. However, at the top end of the table, the real mover was NewPage, which, thanks to its acquisition of Stora Enso's North American assets took over AbitibiBowater's Number 24 spot after occupying 37th place in 2008.
No. of companies1 2008 Sales2 ($ million) 2007 Sales ($ million) % change 2008/ % of total 2008 Mkt pulp3 (1,000 tonnes) % of total 2008 P&B4 (1,000 tonnes) % of total 2008 North America 32 122,282 108,151 13.1 37.9 13,921 37.4 70,019 35.1 Europe 32 110,726 106,285 4.2 34.3 8,679 23.3 70,480 35.4 Asia 23 57,099 50,349 13.4 17.7 1,884 5.1 48,175 24.2 Oceania 2 11,526 12,131 -5.0 3.6 0 0.0 785 0.4 Africa 2 6,806 6,394 6.4 2.1 1,100 3.0 4,100 2.1 Latin America 9 14,321 12,885 11.2 4.4 11,687 31.4 5,784 2.9 100 322,761 296,194 9.0 100 37,271 100 199,343 100
Clearwater Paper of Spokane, WA, makes its debut in the rankings at 65th place. However, Clearwater is the name of the company formed when Potlatch divested its pulp and paper assets.
As noted, in terms of specific companies, not much has changed over the last year. Even when comparing the Top 100 by corporate size, this sense of déjà vu pervades. For 2008 sales (pulp, paper, converting and merchanting), for the top 30 companies, the total was about $230 billion versus $214 billion in 2007. At the bottom end of the table, the companies from 71 to 100 in the rankings had sales of just over $23 billion in 2008 compared with close to $21 billion in 2007.
Sales1 % of Market 2 (1,000 % of total P&B3 % of 1-10 129,278 40.05 2,888 7.75 73,250 36.75 11-20 61,439 19.04 6,806 18.26 31,032 15.57 21-30 39,699 12.30 1,316 3.53 29,878 14.99 31-40 24,197 7.50 5,207 13.97 14,817 7.43 41-50 18,918 5.86 8,301 22.27 16,363 8.21 51-60 14,339 4.44 4,114 11.04 9,014 4.52 61-70 11,314 3.51 2,781 7.46 8,851 4.44 71-80 9,385 2.91 1,419 3.81 5,502 2.76 81-90 7,732 2.40 2,491 6.68 6,043 3.03 91-100 6,460 2.00 1,948 5.23 4,593 2.30 Total 322,761 100 37,271 100 199,343 100
Overall, sales totaled $322.76 billion in 2008 compared with $296.19 billion a year earlier and it seems they were spread evenly through the listings. Although sales were up, paper and board production among the Top 100 companies dropped from 210 million tonnes in 2007 (as reported in last year's PPI September issue) to 199.3 million tonnes in 2008. However, market pulp production went up by just under five million tonnes to 37.2 million tonnes.
Rank Company 14 AbitibiBowater 95 Advance Agro 62 Ahlstrom 19 Amcor 74 Appleton 45 Aracruz Celulose 46 Arauco 66 Billerud 98 BILT Ballarpur Industries 43 Boise Inc 81 Buckeye Technologies 30 Burgo 78 Canfor 82 Caraustar Industries 27 Cascades 48 Catalyst Paper 92 Celulose Nipo-Brasileira (CENIBRA) 88 Cheng Loong 69 Chuetsu Pulp and Paper 65 Clearwater Paper 31 CMPC 23 Daio Paper 96 De La Rue 16 Domtar 41 DS Smith 77 Durango 90 ENCE 100 EUROPAC Papeles y Cartones de Europa 85 Exacompta Clairefontaine 76 Fedrigoni 97 Fraser Papers 60 Glatfelter 26 Graphic Packaging 91 Greif 94 Grupo Orsa 63 Hansol Paper 72 Hengan International Group 52 Hokuetsu Paper Mills 36 Holmen 1 International Paper 99 ITC 8 Kimberly-Clark 50 Klabin 79 Koehler 71 Korsnäs Holding 38 Lecta 61 Lee & Man 73 LEIPA Georg Leinfelder 51 Lenzing Group 13 Marubeni 33 Mayr-Melnhof Karton 67 Mercer International 35 Metsa-Botnia 40 Mitsubishi Paper 10 Mondi 75 Moorim Group 21 M-real 17 MWV 39 Myllykoski 70 Nampak 24 NewPage 44 Nine Dragons Paper 9 Nippon Paper 22 Norske Skogindustrier 6 Oji Paper 34 Packaging Corporation of America 59 Palm 15 PaperlinX 53 Portucel Soporcel 54 Prinzhorn 2 Procter & Gamble 83 Rayonier 25 Rengo 93 Reno de Medici 32 RockTenn 18 Sappi 86 Schweitzer-Mauduit International 11 Sequana Capital 42 Shandong Chenming Paper 87 Shandong Huatai Paper 56 Siam Cement 7 Smurfit Kappa 12 Smurfit-Stone Container 55 Södra 28 Sonoco Products 3 Stora Enso 89 Sun Paper 37 Suzano 4 Svenska Cellulosa (SCA) 49 Tembec 29 Temple-Inland 84 Tokushu Tokai 5 UPM 47 Verso Paper 58 Votorantim Celulose e Papel (VCP) 80 VPK Packaging 64 Wausau Paper 68 West Fraser Timber 20 Weyerhaeuser 57 Yuen Foong Yu Paper
Of the 23 Asian companies listed, the Japanese continue to top the tables, holding the top six places as they did last year. The Chinese companies have made their mark on the industry recently. Shandong Chenming continues to be Number 1 among the Chinese, moving into 42nd place overall, up one spot from the 2008 listing. Nine Dragons made a significant gain, moving up 10 places to hold Number 44.
Currency ABR 2007 2008 Australian Dollar AUD 1.20 1.20 Brazilian Real BRL 1.95 1.84 British Pound GBP 0.50 0.54 Canadian Dollar CAD 1.07 1.07 Chilean Peso CLP 522.47 523.92 Chinese Renminbi CNY 7.61 6.96 Euro EUR 0.73 0.68 Hong Kong Dollar HKD 7.80 7.79 Indian Rupee INR 41.18 43.81 Indonesian Rupiah IDR 9,185.23 9,684.89 Israeli Shekel ILS 4.11 3.59 Japanese Yen JPY 117.76 103.47 Korean Won KRW 929.06 1,102.84 Mexican Peso MXN 10.93 11.17 New Zealand Dollar NZD 1.36 1.43 Norwegian Crown NOK 5.86 5.65 Russian Rouble RUB 25.33 24.87 Singapore Dollar SGD 1.51 1.42 South African Rand ZAR 6.79 8.28 Swedish Crown SEK 6.76 6.59 Swiss Franc CHF 1.20 1.08 Taiwanese Dollar TWD 32.85 31.56 Thai Baht THB 32.21 33.27
The merger of Aracruz and VCP was not complete by the end of 2008 so each company is listed separately. Next year, if all goes to plan, it will be one company, Fibria, and based on 2008 figures, sales for the company should be more than $3 billion.
The merger will allow room for one of the companies that did not make the cut-off figures for 2008 to be included in the 2010 listing. Some of the smaller companies that could not be listed include: Gascogne, Otor, Kapstone, Shandong Bohui, Yue Yang, Kishu and Lintec.
Every year, the Top 100 aims to be a comprehensive list of the financial fortunes of the global pulp and paper industry. However, there are many companies in the sector that do not make their financial results public. Below is a list of firms that would likely qualify for inclusion if their financials were available.
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