Looking Beyond Production Rankings to Reassess Leading Paper Companies’ Capabilities in Resources, Costs, Products, and Industrial Chains
Looking only at production volume makes it easy to mistake “large” for “strong.” A paper company’s true competitiveness is not merely how many paper machines it operates or how many metric tons of capacity it has, but whether it can combine fiber resources, energy efficiency, equipment operation, product mix, customer channels, and cash flow management into an operating system capable of sustainably generating profits.
Scale becomes a genuine industrial advantage only when it translates into lower total cost per metric ton of paper, more consistent quality, faster delivery, and stronger resilience through industry cycles.
The “Top 20 Chinese Paper Companies” in this article are ranked according to 2025 production data for key paper companies published by the China Paper Association in May 2026. The original ranking notes that it is “arranged according to the data collected,” meaning it is a production-volume ranking rather than a comprehensive ranking of corporate revenue, profit, brand strength, and technological capabilities. BIOTEN Packaging Industry Insights provides an accessible interpretation of the industry’s latest challenges and opportunities.
The top 20 companies produced approximately 90.5355 million metric tons in aggregate, accounting for approximately 64.1% of China’s total paper and paperboard output under the Association’s statistical scope. This means that scale, resources, and investment capacity in China’s paper industry are becoming increasingly concentrated among leading companies.
01 · NINE DRAGONS PAPER
Nine Dragons Paper: Strong in Scale, Raw Materials, and Nationwide Production-Base Coordination
2025 Production Volume: 22.66 Million Metric Tons
Nine Dragons Paper’s core advantage is not merely that its production volume has long ranked first in the industry, but that its large-scale capacity, nationwide production bases, fiber raw-material allocation, and customer coverage form a mutually reinforcing system.
Scale reduces procurement and manufacturing costs, a multi-base footprint shortens delivery distances, and pulp-paper integration strengthens the company’s resilience to fluctuations in recovered paper, wood pulp, and energy prices. Nine Dragons Paper’s real barrier has evolved from simply “producing large volumes of packaging paper” into capabilities in raw-material security, category expansion, regional allocation, and replication of large-scale projects.
2026 Latest Development | In Operation
Capacity-expansion projects for high-end papermaking and raw-material configuration in Beihai, Guangxi, and Jingzhou, Hubei, have commenced production. As of year-end 2025, the group had approximately 8.2 million metric tons of annual designed fiber raw-material capacity and was progressively expanding into high-end kraft linerboard, printing and writing paper, and coated ivory board. Nine Dragons Paper is evolving from a leader in recycled packaging paper into an integrated pulp-and-paper platform covering multiple fiber raw materials and multiple paper grades.
Source: Nine Dragons Paper 2026 Interim Results Disclosure
02 · SUN PAPER
Sun Paper: Strong in Forest-Pulp-Paper Integration and High-Efficiency Operations
2025 Production Volume: 10.9540 Million Metric Tons
Sun Paper’s strength lies in optimizing forest resources, pulping, papermaking, energy utilization, and product portfolio within a single operating system. The company has scale in both printing and writing paper and packaging paper, while continuing to expand into specialty paper, tissue, and multiple pulp grades, enabling different products to share raw materials, energy, and utilities.
What is truly difficult to replicate is its capability in large-scale project construction, capacity ramp-up, cost-per-metric-ton management, and cross-base replication. Sun Paper does not rely on a single paper grade for its advantage; instead, through sustained investment and disciplined operations, it converts resource endowments into a long-term cost advantage.
2026 Latest Development | Approved, Planned for Construction
The company plans to invest no more than RMB 5 billion to build production lines in Nanning, Guangxi, with annual capacities of 500,000 metric tons of unbleached chemical wood pulp and 600,000 metric tons of specialty paper. The project has received environmental impact assessment approval and has a planned construction period of approximately 18 months. The project is not simply about capacity expansion; its focus is to further increase captive pulp capacity, optimize the mix of high-value-added paper grades, and strengthen the pulp-paper balance at the Guangxi base.
Source: Sun Paper Nanning Project Announcement
03 · LEE & MAN PAPER
Lee & Man Paper: Strong in Cost Discipline and Vertical Industrial-Chain Extension
2025 Production Volume: 7.5954 Million Metric Tons
Lee & Man Paper has long focused on industrial packaging materials such as linerboard and corrugating medium, with advantages concentrated in large-scale base operations, raw-material organization, energy utilization, and cost-per-metric-ton control. Compared with companies focused on a single paper grade, Lee & Man also diversifies cyclical risk through tissue, pulping, and overseas operations.
Its operating approach is not to pursue every market trend, but to concentrate investment in regions with favorable raw-material, energy, logistics, and customer conditions, creating a scalable and replicable production system. Lee & Man’s true strength is its ability to maintain strong cost discipline and project-selection capabilities through industry fluctuations.
2026 Latest Development | Under Construction
Lee & Man’s integrated forest-pulp-paper full-industrial-chain project in Guigang has a total investment of approximately RMB 27.5 billion. Phase I plans annual production of 1 million metric tons of bleached chemical pulp and 800,000 metric tons of high-grade tissue and tissue products; Phase II extends into green fibers and biodegradable new materials. In May 2026, Phase I entered the equipment-installation stage, with a publicly stated target of commencing production in mid-2027.
Source: Guigang Lee & Man Project Progress
04 · SHANYING INTERNATIONAL
Shanying International: Strong in Integrated “Containerboard–Packaging–Customer” Services
2025 Production Volume: 7.5453 Million Metric Tons
Shanying International’s competitiveness cannot be measured solely by containerboard production. Its more important capability is connecting recycled fiber, industrial packaging base paper, corrugated board and boxes, and major end customers into a coordinated system spanning materials through packaging solutions.
Its nationwide containerboard production bases reduce transportation distances, its packaging network strengthens customer stickiness, and its overseas recycled-fiber and packaging footprint provides a foundation for serving multinational customers. Shanying’s core assets are not merely its paper machines, but its ability to connect paper, packaging, and customers across the industrial chain.
2026 Latest Development | Strategic Transformation
Shanying has launched a new five-year strategy and introduced a “7030” target: moving the gross-margin performance of its papermaking business into the industry’s 70th percentile and increasing high-return orders in its packaging business by 30% annually. This means the operating focus is shifting from asset and scale expansion toward profitability per metric ton of paper, order quality, cash flow, and returns on capital.
Source: Shanying International’s New Five-Year Strategy
05 · BOHUI PAPER
Shandong Bohui Paper: Strong in Large-Scale Manufacturing and Grade Switching for High-End Paperboard
2025 Production Volume: 4.7018 Million Metric Tons
Bohui Paper’s core advantages are its large-scale equipment base for products such as high-end coated ivory board and packaging paperboard, together with quality consistency when serving packaging markets for food, household and personal care products, pharmaceuticals, and consumer electronics. After joining the APP system, Bohui gained further synergies in fiber raw materials, product R&D, global certifications, market channels, and customer resources.
Bohui’s most noteworthy capability is not merely the high capacity of individual machines, but its ability to improve utilization efficiency and profitability of existing assets through technical retrofits, equipment upgrades, and paper-grade switching.
2026 Latest Development | Technical Upgrade Approved, Green Manufacturing Achievement
Shandong Bohui plans to invest approximately RMB 219 million to increase the combined capacity of two chemi-mechanical pulp lines from 400,000 metric tons to 600,000 metric tons, while adding twin-roll pulp presses, screw presses, and waste-heat recovery systems. In 2026, Shandong Bohui was also selected as a National Green Factory, with green manufacturing increasingly translating into energy efficiency, raw-material efficiency, and access to international customers.
Source: Chemi-Mechanical Pulp Technical Upgrade Project; National Green Factory Information
06 · ASIA SYMBOL
Asia Symbol: Strong in Fiber Raw Materials, Quality Control, and Industrial-Chain Extension
2025 Production Volume: 3.7781 Million Metric Tons
Asia Symbol’s fundamental competitiveness comes from its large-scale integrated pulp-and-paper base, stable wood-fiber supply system, and rigorous quality-control capabilities. Market pulp, high-grade printing and writing paper, and tissue require high levels of fiber cleanliness, batch-to-batch consistency, and stable equipment operation. These production-control capabilities, accumulated over the long term, constitute an important manufacturing barrier.
The company is extending further downstream from upstream pulp and paper production into tissue and converting, increasing the conversion value of fiber resources within its internal industrial chain.
2026 Latest Development | Under Construction
Phase II of the tissue project is under construction, with plans to add 6 tissue production lines as well as slitting, converting, and automated warehousing systems, adding approximately 150,000 metric tons of capacity. Some production lines are planned to commence operation by the end of 2026, with the overall project scheduled for completion in the first half of 2027. These dates remain construction targets and should be subject to final start-up information.
Source: Asia Symbol Tissue Phase II Progress
07 · HUATAI PAPER
Huatai Group: Strong in Redirecting Traditional Manufacturing Capabilities Toward High-Value Pulp and Paper Materials
2025 Production Volume: 3.1027 Million Metric Tons
Huatai has deep experience in newsprint, printing and writing paper, and supporting chemical operations, with advantages including large paper-machine operation, energy-chemical integration, and process-management capabilities developed over many years. More noteworthy today is Huatai’s effort to redirect its traditional industrial manufacturing capabilities toward new areas such as high-porosity extensible paper, food packaging paper, high-yield fiber, and bio-based materials.
This is not simply a change of paper grade, but a recombination of pulping, papermaking, chemicals, and by-product utilization to increase the total value generated from each metric ton of wood and each metric ton of pulp.
2026 Latest Development | Commissioning and Trial Operation
Rizhao Huatai’s project with annual capacity of 150,000 metric tons of high-yield unbleached wood fiber and a supporting 45,000-metric-ton lignin facility successfully completed integrated trial operation in May 2026 and entered the commissioning and operating stage. The project can supply fiber for biodegradable paper bags, food packaging paper, and high-grade kraft paper, while also converting lignin from pulping black liquor into raw materials for adhesives, modified asphalt, environmentally friendly building materials, and bio-based materials.
Source: Huatai Co., Ltd. Project Announcement
08 · CHINA PAPER
China Paper: Strong in Its Central SOE Platform and Cross-Enterprise Resource Integration
2025 Production Volume: 3.0979 Million Metric Tons
China Paper is represented in the ranking on a group-platform basis, and its advantages differ from those of a single paper mill. It can allocate capital, fiber resources, technology R&D, brand channels, and major projects across enterprises, while its subsidiaries cover printing and writing paper, specialty paper, packaging paperboard, pulp, and other fields.
The value of a platform-based enterprise lies in reducing duplicate investment among member companies and promoting the sharing of R&D results, raw-material security, customer resources, and market channels across different production bases.
2026 Latest Development | Subproject in Operation, Overall Project Approved
The 400,000-metric-ton chemi-mechanical pulp subproject at China Paper’s southern base has commenced production and begun supplying a portion of captive pulp to coated ivory board production lines, with the substitution rate for comparable pulp grades at one point approaching 80%. The adjusted high-end packaging new-materials project at the southern base also includes 400,000 metric tons of chemical pulp and 190,000 metric tons of specialty paper, with total investment of approximately RMB 6.971 billion. The overall project must strictly distinguish between subprojects already in operation and subsequent planned construction.
Source: Chemi-Mechanical Pulp Operations; Overall Project Approval Information
09 · LONG CHEN PAPER
Jiangsu Long Chen: Strong in a Recycled-Fiber Closed Loop and Operating Discipline
2025 Production Volume: 3.07 Million Metric Tons
Long Chen’s advantage comes from vertical coordination among recycled fiber, industrial packaging paper, and corrugated-box operations. For recycled packaging paper producers, the real capability is not pursuing full-load production indefinitely, but dynamically adjusting operating rates in response to changes in recovered-paper prices, finished-paper prices, inventory levels, and regional orders.
Long Chen coordinates supply and demand among multiple production bases and packaging sites in mainland China, demonstrating strong awareness of cost control, inventory management, and cycle management.
2026 Latest Development | Group-Level Operating Changes
Long Chen scheduled rotating maintenance for 10 paper machines across its three major bases in Wuxi, Pinghu, and Hubei, with an estimated temporary reduction in supply of approximately 156,500 metric tons. Previously, the group’s pretax profit turned from a year-over-year loss to a profit in the fourth quarter of 2025. These changes indicate that its operating focus is shifting toward spreads, inventory, and cash flow. The operating results cited here are on the Long Chen Paper Group basis and should not be directly equated with the Jiangsu legal entity alone.
Source: Paper-Machine Maintenance Plan; Group Operating Results
10 · LIANSHENG PAPER
Liansheng Paper (Longhai): Strong in Regional Scale, Port Logistics, and the Circular Economy
2025 Production Volume: 2.8240 Million Metric Tons
Leveraging its coastal Fujian location, recycled-resource organization, and large automated paper machines, Liansheng Paper (Longhai) has established regional scale advantages in packaging paper grades including kraft linerboard, corrugating medium, and coated white-top testliner.
Its competitive logic is to concentrate recovered-paper recycling, pulping, papermaking, energy utilization, and logistics at large production bases, serving packaging markets in South China and coastal regions within relatively short transportation distances. Liansheng’s real advantage lies in optimizing resource-circulation efficiency, manufacturing efficiency, and regional delivery efficiency within a single system.
2026 Latest Development | Demonstration Achievement
The company has been promoted as a model case for the industrial circular economy in Zhangzhou and has established a full-chain “recycling–pulping–papermaking” circular system. In 2025, it recycled and utilized approximately 2.2 million metric tons of recovered paper and operated 6 automated papermaking production lines. This demonstrates that its circular economy is not merely an environmental concept, but an important component of its raw-material security and cost-control system.
Source: Liansheng Paper Circular-Economy Case
11 · GUANGXI JINGUI
Guangxi Jingui Pulp & Paper: Strong in Pulp-Paperboard Integration and Its ASEAN-Facing Location
2025 Production Volume: 2.8169 Million Metric Tons
Jingui Pulp & Paper’s core competitiveness lies in the coordinated production of chemi-mechanical pulp and high-grade coated ivory board at the same large-scale base. Internal pulp supply can reduce pulp transportation costs and exposure to external pulp-price volatility, while its port-adjacent location facilitates imports of wood chips and other raw materials, paper exports, and service to the South China market.
Products such as food-grade paperboard and commercial ivory board require not only large-scale paper machines, but also capabilities in surface properties, printability, food-contact compliance, and international customer certification.
2026 Latest Development | Environmental Impact Assessment Publicized, Planned for Implementation
The company plans to invest RMB 495 million to increase the combined capacity of two coated ivory board production lines from 1.9 million metric tons to 3 million metric tons through upgrades to key equipment and environmental systems, without adding paper machines. The project also plans wastewater treatment and reclaimed-water reuse facilities. It remains at the environmental impact assessment and implementation-advancement stage and cannot be described as having already created 3 million metric tons of effective capacity.
Source: Jingui High-End Paperboard Green Upgrade Project
12 · GOLDEN PHOENIX PAPER
Wuhan Golden Phoenix Paper: Strong in Central China Market Responsiveness and Recycled-Fiber Conversion
2025 Production Volume: 2.4810 Million Metric Tons
Golden Phoenix’s advantage lies in establishing large-scale supply and rapid-delivery capabilities for high-strength corrugating medium around the Central China packaging market. Its Wuhan and Xiaogan bases can cover core markets including Hubei, Hunan, Henan, and Jiangxi with relatively short regional transportation distances.
The company primarily uses domestically recovered paper and reduces total manufacturing costs through high-speed paper machines, wastewater treatment, energy recovery, and regional logistics, making it representative of regional industrial-paper companies that deepen market density.
2026 Latest Development | Green Technical Upgrades, Operating Results
The company invested RMB 270 million to build a three-stage wastewater treatment system, with a reclaimed-water recycling rate exceeding 95%, and has set a 2026 technical-upgrade target of further reducing water consumption by 1 cubic meter per metric ton of paper. Eight production lines at the Xiaogan base remain at full-load operation, producing approximately 4,000 rolls of corrugating medium per day; output during the Spring Festival period was approximately 40,000 metric tons, up 12% year over year.
Source: Green Manufacturing Progress; Production Operations
13 · GOLD EAST PAPER
Gold East Paper: Strong in Product Restructuring Built on High-End Printing Materials
2025 Production Volume: 2.2711 Million Metric Tons
Gold East Paper’s long-established advantages lie in operating large high-speed paper machines, quality control for high-end coated paper, and international customer service capabilities. In response to changing demand for traditional coated printing and writing paper, the company is leveraging its existing R&D, coating, surface-treatment, and customer-certification systems to expand into specialty papers such as thermal base paper, machine-glazed paper, and environmentally friendly substrates.
This demonstrates the ability of large paper companies to restructure their product mix by leveraging installed equipment and existing technical capabilities.
2026 Latest Development | Started Up, Commissioning Production
Gold East’s PM6 production line successfully started up in April 2026 and is China’s first low-basis-weight, high-speed MG-cylinder specialty paper production line. The line has a design speed of 1,200 meters/minute and annual capacity of 120,000 metric tons of machine-glazed paper and thermal base paper. Phase II of the project also plans 160,000 metric tons of multifunctional environmentally friendly substrate paper capacity.
Source: Gold East Paper PM6 Project Progress
14 · NINGBO ASIA PULP & PAPER
Ningbo Asia Pulp & Paper: Strong in High-End Paperboard, Food Packaging, and Digital Quality Control
2025 Production Volume: 2.2707 Million Metric Tons
Ningbo Asia Pulp & Paper has long focused on high-end paperboard such as coated ivory board, food-grade paperboard, and cigarette board. Its advantages lie not only in capacity, but also in product consistency, global certification systems, and coverage of export customers.
Food and consumer-goods packaging requires companies to control fiber, coatings, odor, migration risk, printability, and converting performance simultaneously. This cross-process, cross-stage quality-management capability is an important threshold for entering international high-end packaging supply chains.
2026 Latest Development | Product Innovation, Digital and Intelligent Transformation
The company disclosed progress in water-based barrier food-grade paperboard technology, with related products suitable for “paper-for-plastic” applications such as paper cups and food containers. It has also integrated systems including ERP, MES, OA, and ATMS to create a closed data loop spanning sales, production, quality inspection, supply chain, and logistics, advancing its digital and intelligent transformation from 1.0 toward 2.0.
Source: Ningbo Asia Pulp & Paper Green and Intelligent Manufacturing Practices
15 · WUZHOU SPECIAL PAPER
Wuzhou Special Paper: Strong in a “Specialty-Paper Core + Industrial-Packaging Growth + Captive-Pulp Support” Model
2025 Production Volume: 2.2034 Million Metric Tons
Wuzhou Special Paper’s competitiveness cannot be summarized simply as specialty paper. First, it has a foundation in niche products such as glassine paper and food packaging paper; second, it gains scale from the ramp-up of industrial packaging paper capacity at its Hubei base; third, it is extending into captive pulp to reduce exposure to fluctuations in wood-pulp and recovered-paper prices.
Wuzhou Special Paper’s growth in recent years has resulted from the combined effects of specialty paper, industrial packaging paper, multi-base development, and pulp-paper integration, rather than being driven by any single paper grade.
2026 Latest Development | Capacity Ramp-Up, Environmental Impact Assessment Publicized
Capacity utilization of the 250,000-metric-ton glassine paper production line at the Hubei base has exceeded 70%. The company has also publicized an 800,000-metric-ton integrated pulp-and-paper project, proposing capacity of 500,000 metric tons of unbleached chemical pulp, 200,000 metric tons of tissue, and 100,000 metric tons of specialty paper. The unbleached chemical pulp is planned to replace part of the recovered-paper furnish currently used in packaging paper, supporting product upgrading.
Source: Glassine Paper Progress; Hubei Integrated Pulp-and-Paper Project
16 · CENTURY SUNSHINE PAPER
Century Sunshine Paper: Strong in Wide-Width Packaging Paper and Resource-Circulation Systems
2025 Production Volume: 2.1641 Million Metric Tons
Century Sunshine has established large-scale manufacturing capabilities in industrial packaging materials such as high-strength corrugating medium and white-top kraft linerboard. Wide-width paper machines help improve production efficiency and serve large packaging customers. Its advantages also include coordination among recovered-paper utilization, combined heat and power supply, utilities, and large production bases.
The key to its future competitiveness is to maintain its packaging-paper cost advantage while increasing the share of captive pulp, reducing raw-material volatility, and expanding the proportion of high-value-added products.
2026 Latest Development | Affiliate Project Environmental Assessment, Production Results
Shandong Shenghua, a subsidiary of Century Sunshine, publicized a 500,000-metric-ton-per-year bleached chemical pulp project with total investment of approximately RMB 3.19 billion and a supporting waste-heat and residual-pressure power-generation system. Meanwhile, two wide-width corrugating-medium production lines at Century Sunshine’s wholly owned subsidiary remain at full-load operation, with daily output of approximately 2,000 metric tons. The Shandong Shenghua project remains at the environmental impact assessment and construction-preparation stage and cannot be counted as commissioned captive-pulp capacity.
Source: Shandong Shenghua Chemical Pulp Project; Production-Line Operations
17 · XIANHE CO.
Xianhe Co.: Strong in a Specialty-Paper Platform and Joint Development with Customers
2025 Production Volume: 1.9890 Million Metric Tons
Xianhe’s core barrier is not any single specialty-paper product, but a specialty-paper platform spanning food and consumer packaging, labels and release materials, electrical insulation, business communications, medical applications, and industrial supporting applications.
Specialty paper typically involves relatively fragmented production runs and complex technical specifications, requiring continuous R&D, flexible production scheduling, and joint customer validation. Through its multi-base footprint and captive-pulp development, Xianhe is simultaneously strengthening product barriers, raw-material security, and customer-service capabilities.
2026 Latest Development | Under Construction, Planned for Start-Up
Phase II of the Guangxi base plans to add 600,000 metric tons of pulping capacity and 700,000 metric tons of specialty-paper capacity, with the PM6 specialty-paper production line targeted to be the first to commence operation in September 2026. The company disclosed that captive pulp produced at its Guangxi and Hubei bases has essentially reached a level at which it can substitute for comparable imported wood pulp. The PM6 start-up date remains a construction target and should be subject to the actual start-up announcement.
Source: Xianhe Co. Guangxi Base Progress
18 · JINGXING PAPER
Jingxing Paper: Strong in Extending from Recycled Packaging Paper into Consumer Paper
2025 Production Volume: 1.6926 Million Metric Tons
Jingxing Paper has long-standing capabilities in linerboard, corrugating medium, and recycled-fiber utilization, and has extended downstream through corrugated-box packaging and tissue operations.
The value of this transformation lies in leveraging its existing recovered-paper procurement, pulping, energy, and environmental infrastructure to expand recycled-fiber applications from traditional industrial packaging into higher-value-added consumer paper products, effectively developing new products and profit sources within the same resource system.
2026 Latest Development | Started Up, Trial Production
TM7, a technical-upgrade project with annual capacity of 50,000 metric tons of recycled environmentally friendly tissue, successfully started up in May 2026 and entered trial production. The line uses a Fourdrinier multi-cylinder wet-creping process, targets environmentally friendly hand towels, and is equipped with a DCS system to provide automated control from stock preparation through finished products.
Source: Jingxing Paper TM7 Project
19 · HENAN LONGYUAN PAPER
Henan Longyuan Paper: Strong in the Central China Market, Circular Resources, and Scale Upgrading
2025 Production Volume: 1.6865 Million Metric Tons
Leveraging the large manufacturing, logistics, and agricultural-product packaging markets in Henan and surrounding areas, Longyuan Paper benefits from strong regional demand density and advantages in organizing recycled resources. Its competitive logic is to combine recovered-paper recycling, base-paper production, regional delivery, and industrial-chain support to reduce long-distance transportation costs.
The company is currently using large intelligent paper machines to further convert its regional resource and market advantages into equipment efficiency, higher product grades, and scale advantages.
2026 Latest Development | First Line in Operation, Second Line Under Commissioning
The first production line of the 2-million-metric-ton-per-year green packaging new-materials project has commenced production and reached target performance, while the second 400,000-metric-ton packaging-paper line is undergoing installation and commissioning. The company also plans to build 3 intelligent, automated, and green production lines. Its stated 3-million-metric-ton integrated capacity is a long-term planning target and cannot be counted as current effective capacity.
Source: Henan Longyuan Project Progress
20 · TAISHENG GROUP
Taisheng Group: Strong in Vertical Integration from Fiber Resources to Tissue
2025 Production Volume: 1.6310 Million Metric Tons
Taisheng’s differentiated advantage lies in building a vertically integrated industrial chain around wood pulp, bamboo pulp, tissue, and hygiene products. Competition in tissue depends not only on paper machines, but also on fiber cost, softness control, converting efficiency, channel development, and consumer brands.
Extending upstream into pulp can strengthen raw-material security; extending downstream into tissue and hygiene products can increase the end-market value of fiber resources.
2026 Latest Development | Project Publicized, Proposed for Construction
Relevant project information for Taisheng’s Guangxi green-fiber full-industrial-chain base has been publicized, with total investment of approximately RMB 15.674 billion. The project proposes production lines with annual capacities of 1 million metric tons of bleached kraft wood (bamboo) pulp, 450,000 metric tons of specialty paper, and 500,000 metric tons of tissue, with a planned construction period from 2026 to 2028. It is currently a proposed project in the preliminary advancement stage and cannot be described as having commenced construction, entered production, or formed effective capacity.
Source: Guangxi Taisheng Project Public Notice
INDUSTRY SIGNALS
Five Industry Signals Shared by the Top 20
01 Fiber Resources Are Once Again Becoming a Core Competitive Factor
Companies including Nine Dragons Paper, Sun Paper, Lee & Man Paper, Asia Symbol, Huatai, Xianhe, Century Sunshine, and Taisheng are increasing their captive-pulp ratios or building diversified fiber systems. The operating model facing the greatest future risk is one with very large paper-machine capacity but prolonged full exposure to fluctuations in purchased wood-pulp and recovered-paper prices.
02 Investment Focus Is Shifting from Scale Expansion to Structural Upgrading
Projects by companies such as Bohui and Jingui show that industry investment is shifting from simply adding paper machines toward equipment retrofits, process optimization, waste-heat recovery, digital control, and grade switching. What will truly matter going forward is not design capacity, but effective capacity that can produce consistently, be absorbed by the market, and generate reasonable gross margins.
03 Specialty Paper Is Moving from Single-Product Competition to Platform Competition
Companies including Gold East, Ningbo Asia Pulp & Paper, Wuzhou Special Paper, and Xianhe are expanding into food packaging paper, water-based barrier paper, thermal base paper, glassine paper, and environmentally friendly substrates. Moving upmarket is not simply about raising selling prices, but about increasing customer-certification thresholds, process complexity, and the cost of switching suppliers.
04 Green Manufacturing Is Beginning to Shift from a Cost Item to a Productive Capability
From reclaimed-water reuse and waste-heat recovery to comprehensive lignin utilization and increasing production without increasing pollution, green manufacturing is directly affecting energy costs, raw-material efficiency, by-product value, and customer access. For food packaging, export packaging, and international-brand supply chains, green capabilities are becoming a new threshold for winning orders.
05 Industry Competition Will Shift from Company-to-Company Competition to Industrial-System Competition
Future competition in the paper industry will not simply be between paper mills, but between industrial systems comprising fiber resources, energy systems, paper-machine efficiency, product technology, packaging converting, logistics networks, and customer channels.
CONCLUSION
The Real Dividing Line Is Not Nameplate Capacity, but Effective Capacity
The true strengths of China’s top 20 paper companies are not all the same. Some are strong in scale and cost, others in fiber resources; some excel in large-scale equipment and manufacturing efficiency, others in niche products and customer certification; still others are strong in regional markets, industrial-chain coordination, or platform-based resource integration.
But every advantage must ultimately answer three questions:
Can total cost per metric ton of paper be reduced further?
Can products be sold into markets with higher barriers to entry and more stable margins?
Can the company maintain cash flow during industry downturns and continue investing in technology, products, and industrial-chain development?
Over the next several years, the real dividing line in the paper industry will not be nameplate capacity, but effective capacity; it will not be how many assets a company owns, but how much stable and sustainable return those assets can generate. This is what industry participants can learn most from studying China’s top 20 paper companies.
BIOTEN Packaging · Industry Insights — Research Notes
The production ranking in this article uses 2025 production data for key paper companies published by the China Paper Association. Information on companies’ 2026 projects and operations was primarily verified against listed-company announcements, government environmental impact assessment and approval notices, information from local governments and industrial parks, and publicly available materials from professional industry media. Information retrieval was completed through August 8, 2026. Projects described as proposed, under environmental impact assessment, approved, under construction, or planned for commissioning are not equivalent to projects already in production or to effective capacity already formed.
