Indian Decorative Laminate Industry has given super boost to base paper consumption that has hugely benefited the Indian and Chinese printers. Growing market of High Pressure Laminates and Prelam Boards at good pace is pivotal factor behind growing demand of décor base paper used for Print and as Plain. At recent survey by BSMR, market research wing of ‘The Ply Reporter’ magazine, indicates that consumption of print base paper of Indian HPL and LPL industry has reached approximately 80,000 MT per year in 2018.
China printed base paper has reported to improve marginal whereas Europe and Japan has posted dip. The reason for dropping market share of European décor papers is due to stagnant market for 1.0 mm and high value decorative laminates. Technology advancement and economical designs by China printers have also helped them to maintain their volumes. During 2016 and 2017, the volumes of cheaper decorative laminates in less than 0.8 mm thickness have grown which uses papers based on price. In Prelam boards, the same segment of cheaper boards has grown massive that has provided avenues for Indian printers.
The biggest share of the growth has been captured by the Indian paper printers who have increased their production capacity and supplies largely to new laminate plants coming in every region of the country. With around 13 percent annual growth recoded in print base demand, Indian printers have taken almost 60 percent of the growth share, followed by Chinese printers and Korea. The demand of domestic printers is fueled by HPL due to growing supply of thin laminates (0.8 mm and 0.7 mm) and huge consumption of door skins. The report of improving quality of domestic printed decor paper is also helping these segments led by Matchwell, Tanish, Unique décor etc.