2009 foreign competition: Paperitalo 2nd Tuesday Surveys

Survey subject: Foreign competition		2^nd Tuesday Surveys are Copyright 2010 by Paperitalo Publications and used by permission of the Copyright Owner
Dates open: 9 – 24 Mar 2009		Confidential level and error band: (95% confid. Level, +/- 10% error band)
No. of respondents: 98	Pulp & Paper Industry
65% US respondents, 7% Canada, 6% Western Eurpoe each, all other areas were less
When asked about foreign competition: 48% said it is a threat to their mill The biggest concern was labor costs (32%) followed by loose environmental regulations (18%) 66% of respondents report their company regularly lobbies their home country’s government for protection 63% cite “other cost cutting” as the primary way they address foreign competition. 38% say it is “possible” or “almost certain” foreign competition will be responsible for their mill to shut in the next five years 76% report their country does not use tariffs to thwart foreign competition 17% report their country uses threats of retaliation with other goods to protect forest products 35% blame environmental groups for favourable treatment of foreign pulp and paper products in their home market