Scale is visible in the production table; Jingui's real strength lies in integrating eucalyptus chemi-mechanical pulp with premium folding boxboard.
China's Top 20 Paper Producers · No. 11 / INDUSTRIAL PAPER STUDY
Its No. 11 position in the association's table of key producers and its 2025 paper and paperboard output of 2.8169 million tonnes establish the scale benchmark. The more important question is how Jingui coordinates its chemi-mechanical pulp lines, premium folding boxboard lines, utilities and port logistics—and how that coordination translates into product quality, orders and operating cash flow.
CORE JUDGMENT
Jingui's strength lies in coordinating eucalyptus chemi-mechanical pulp production, large-scale premium folding boxboard manufacturing and export delivery through the Port of Qinzhou at a single integrated site. Output of 2.8169 million tonnes and the No. 11 ranking demonstrate scale; the bulk–strength balance, saleable yield, converting yield, export execution, profitability and operating cash flow determine whether that scale becomes a durable competitive advantage.
Scale appears in the production table; value is realized in the sheet, the order book and operating cash flow.
This series examines, in order, the 20 largest producers in the China Paper Association's 2025 output table for key enterprises. According to that table, Guangxi Jingui Pulp & Paper Co., Ltd. produced 2.8169 million tonnes of paper and paperboard in 2025, up 5.91% year on year, ranking 11th. The association also notes that the table is ranked on the basis of data collected.
That figure shows how large Jingui is, but not how it achieves stable production and delivery. Upstream, the system combines part of its wood supply from APP China's Guangxi forestry operations, diversified raw-material procurement and three chemi-mechanical pulp lines. At the mill, it includes two premium folding boxboard lines, captive heat and power, water supply and wastewater treatment, chemical recovery and automated warehousing. Downstream, it spans consumer-packaging board, food-service board, cupstock, bowlstock and food-container board, supported by export logistics through the Port of Qinzhou.
Equipment suppliers describe the pulp-to-board relationship more directly. ANDRITZ states that two P-RC APMP fiberlines at Jingui were upgraded to meet the increased mechanical-pulp demand created by a new board production line. Valmet reports that Jingui's BCTMP line uses eucalyptus chips to produce chemi-mechanical pulp for integrated board production within the group.
This manufacturing chain has reached substantial scale, but output, profit and cash flow do not move in lockstep. In 2024, folding boxboard accounted for 57.89% of consolidated revenue; operating revenue and net profit attributable to the parent fell by 16.83% and 28.52%, respectively, while net cash flow from operating activities was negative RMB 602 million. Output increased in 2025, but comparable financial data are still needed to determine whether operating quality improved at the same time.
RESEARCH BOUNDARIES
Basis of comparison:The 2.8169 million tonnes figure is the association's 2025 output for paper and paperboard. The 1.0 million tonnes per year of chemi-mechanical pulp and 1.9 million tonnes per year of premium folding boxboard reported by Guangxi Daily in March 2026 are annual capacities. Chemi-mechanical pulp and paper and paperboard are different product scopes, so this article neither adds the figures together nor derives a utilization rate from them. APP China's Guangxi forestry resources belong to the group system; they are not necessarily assets of Jingui itself and do not imply complete raw-material self-sufficiency. The proposed 3.0-million-tonne upgrade has reached the draft-for-public-comment and report-disclosure stages, but no verifiable EIA approval, construction, trial-production or commissioning document was identified in this review. A product catalogue likewise does not constitute evidence of food-contact compliance, barrier performance or recyclability for the finished package.
01 · SCALE & REVENUE
No. 11 Is Only the Starting Point: Folding Boxboard Generates Nearly 60% of Revenue
Association data show that Jingui's paper and paperboard output increased in 2025. Annual capacity is a separate measure. Guangxi Daily reported in March 2026 that Jingui then had annual capacity of 1.0 million tonnes of chemi-mechanical pulp and 1.9 million tonnes of premium folding boxboard, whereas the association's 2.8169 million tonnes figure is 2025 paper and paperboard output.
•2.8169 million tonnes: 2025 paper and paperboard output reported by the association, up 5.91% year on year and ranked No. 11;
•1.0 million tonnes per year: chemi-mechanical pulp capacity reported by Guangxi Daily;
•1.9 million tonnes per year: premium folding boxboard capacity reported by Guangxi Daily;
•Three chemi-mechanical pulp lines and two premium folding boxboard lines: the current line count disclosed on Jingui's website.
Capacity, output, product scope and source methodology are not fully comparable. This article does not add 1.0 million and 1.9 million tonnes and compare the result with 2.8169 million tonnes, nor does it use 2.8169 ÷ 1.9 to estimate utilization. Read together, the figures are more useful for tracking paper-machine operation, product mix and the actual progress of subsequent expansion.
Jinyuan Securities' 2024 bond trustee report details Jingui's revenue mix. Folding boxboard generated RMB 6.592 billion, or 57.89% of consolidated revenue; toll-processing revenue was RMB 2.899 billion, or 25.46%; and pulp revenue was approximately RMB 600 million, or 5.27%.
These figures confirm the central role of folding boxboard while showing that Jingui's revenue is not derived solely from sales of self-produced board. The accounting categories alone do not prove synergies among toll processing, pulp, trading and folding boxboard. More important questions are whether internally produced chemi-mechanical pulp can consistently match board demand, how toll processing affects the product mix, and whether orders convert efficiently into collections and operating cash flow.
Sources: China Paper Association, 2025 Annual Report of China's Paper Industry; Guangxi Daily, “Industry Accelerates as Spring Arrives”; Jinyuan Securities, 2024 Bond Trustee Report of Guangxi Jingui Pulp & Paper Co., Ltd.
02 · FIBER TO BOARD
How Eucalyptus Chemi-Mechanical Pulp Enters the Premium Folding Boxboard Platform
The clearest link between the pulp lines and the board lines is the documented equipment upgrade. ANDRITZ reported in 2022 that one purpose of upgrading Jingui's two P-RC APMP fiberlines was to meet the increased mechanical-pulp demand from a new board production line. The work covered chip pretreatment, high-consistency refining and fiber–steam separation. Valmet reports that another BCTMP line at Jingui uses eucalyptus chips to make chemi-mechanical pulp for integrated board production within the group.
Chemi-mechanical pulp can contribute bulk and opacity to premium folding boxboard furnish, but it does not determine finished-sheet performance on its own. Board stiffness, internal bond strength, surface strength, printability and die-cutting and folding performance also depend on the ratio of chemical to chemi-mechanical pulp, ply design, forming and pressing, drying, sizing and coating, calendering and moisture control. Higher bulk is not inherently better; the technical challenge is to keep bulk, strength, surface quality and machine stability within the same operating window.
The group's forestry resources are only one part of the raw-material system. A company report on RCEP also refers to imported market pulp, wood chips and starch. “Integrated plantation–pulp–paper” should therefore be understood as coordination among group forestry resources, diversified procurement and mill operations—not as complete raw-material self-sufficiency at Jingui.
The food-grade board, cupstock, bowlstock and food-container board listed on the company's website establish only the product range and intended applications. Before base paper enters beverage, hot-soup or oily-food applications, it often undergoes extrusion coating or other coating, printing, die-cutting, forming and sealing. Claims concerning food contact, barrier performance, heat sealing and end-of-life recyclability must be verified separately for the base paper, coating or film, inks and adhesives, finished structure and actual conditions of use.
For material and equipment suppliers, the collaboration metrics are correspondingly specific. At the pulp stage, they include brightness, freeness, shive content and the bulk–strength balance. On the paper machine, they include sheet-break frequency, saleable yield, cross-direction basis-weight profile and moisture stability. In converting, they include printability, crease cracking, die-cutting, bonding, warp and forming yield.
Sources: ANDRITZ, final acceptance of the upgrade to two P-RC APMP lines at Jingui; Valmet, “BCTMP Line Proves Success at Guangxi Jingui Pulp & Paper”; Jingui product information.
03 · PROFIT & CASH
After Output Growth, Profit and Cash Flow Still Matter
In 2024, Jingui reported consolidated operating revenue of RMB 11.387 billion, down 16.83% year on year; net profit attributable to owners of the parent of RMB 815 million, down 28.52%; and net cash flow from operating activities of negative RMB 602 million, versus positive RMB 1.379 billion a year earlier. At year-end, the debt-to-asset ratio was 45.76%, the current ratio 2.09 and the quick ratio 2.00.
•Operating revenue of RMB 11.387 billion, down 16.83% year on year;
•Net profit attributable to owners of the parent of RMB 815 million, down 28.52% year on year;
•Net cash flow from operating activities of negative RMB 602 million;
•Debt-to-asset ratio of 45.76%, current ratio of 2.09 and quick ratio of 2.00.
These financial results show that manufacturing scale is established, but output does not automatically become profit and cash. Prices, order quality, raw materials, inventory and the pace of collections must improve within the same cycle.
There are positive signals on the production side. A company feature reported gross output value of RMB 10.2 billion in 2025, above RMB 10 billion for a fourth consecutive year. A June 2026 Qinzhou Daily report quoted a company director as saying that Jingui produced 848,000 tonnes of folding boxboard and generated RMB 2.897 billion in pulp-and-paper output value from January through April 2026. These figures come from company reporting and a media interview. Gross output value is not operating revenue, and “stable operation at full load” is not a substitute for evidence on capacity utilization, downtime, the production-to-sales ratio or profitability.
Both sets of facts therefore matter: paper and paperboard output increased in 2025, and production remained high during the first four months of 2026. Comparable 2025 financial data are still needed to determine whether profit and operating cash flow improved in parallel. The next issues to watch are the share of higher-value products, inventory and receivables turnover, the quality of export orders and whether operating cash flow moves in the same direction.
Sources: Jinyuan Securities, 2024 Bond Trustee Report of Guangxi Jingui Pulp & Paper Co., Ltd.; China Industry News, citing Qinzhou Daily, “A Green Engine Powers a Hundred-Billion-Yuan Industry.”
04 · OPERATIONS & PROJECTS
Assess Environmental Operations and Expansion Projects by Stage
Captive heat and power, water supply and wastewater treatment, and what the company describes as a chemical-recovery system first support continuous energy supply, water management and pollutant control. Public information is not yet sufficient to establish advantages in unit energy consumption, unit water use, chemical-recovery efficiency or carbon intensity. Future assessment should track electricity use per tonne of pulp, steam recovery, water use per tonne of paper, permitted emissions and unplanned downtime.
Jingui's 2025 self-monitoring disclosure states that the company has three wastewater discharge outlets and 24 air-emission outlets, six of which are equipped with automatic monitoring systems. The company reported that all third-party manual-monitoring results met applicable limits and that its data-upload and publication completion rate was 100%. This shows that a self-monitoring and disclosure mechanism is in place, but it does not replace regulatory inspections, pollutant-discharge permit implementation reports or evidence of product environmental attributes.
The stage of the premium paperboard workshop's green upgrade project must also be described precisely. The project progressed from an initial information disclosure in November 2025 to public consultation on the draft environmental impact report in February 2026. Industry media reported that the environmental impact report was released on 27 March 2026. This review did not identify verifiable documents confirming EIA approval, construction, trial production or commissioning. The proposed increase from 1.9 million to 3.0 million tonnes per year therefore remains a project plan, not realized capacity or an operating result.
Project status should be recorded in sequence: initial disclosure, draft for public consultation, report publication, formal approval, construction, trial production, stable operation, full production and profitability. Each transition requires a new document or new operating data.
Sources: Guangxi Jingui Pulp & Paper Co., Ltd., 2025 self-monitoring disclosure; Guangxi Daily, February 2026 public-participation notice; Paper Industry Observer, citing the publication of the project report.
05 · INDUSTRY VALUE
Value-Chain Opportunities Lie in Four Verifiable Areas
Jingui's value to the industry chain does not lie in the abstract idea of being “large,” but in several areas of collaboration that can be tested with process and operating data.
Raw Materials and Chemicals: Stabilize the Bulk–Strength Balance. The balance among pulp brightness, freeness, shive content, bulk and tensile strength affects ply structure, coating and downstream converting. Collaboration should be evaluated through batch-to-batch variation, sheet-break frequency and saleable yield.
Equipment and Digitalization: Turn High Speed into Consistent Saleable Yield. Paper machines, rewinders, slitters, automated warehouses and quality-data systems should be measured through cross-direction basis-weight, moisture and coat-weight profiles, surface strength, grade-changeover time and unplanned downtime.
Packaging Conversion: Validate Base-Paper Performance through Printing, Die-Cutting and Forming. For food-service board, cupstock and food-container board, converters should evaluate printability, crease cracking, die-cut accuracy, bonding, warp, heat sealing and forming yield. Final compliance must still be verified for the complete packaging structure.
Port and Trade: Translate Delivery Efficiency into Inventory and Cash Conversion. The customs-supervised export distribution warehouse provides an operating node for post-clearance storage, consolidation and distribution, but opening the facility does not itself create additional orders or profit. Its value should be assessed through customs-clearance time, inventory days, the on-time-in-full delivery rate, cargo-damage claim rate and collection cycle.
These metrics make the direction of collaboration concrete: good pulp must become a stable sheet; a stable sheet must pass converting validation; and delivery efficiency must ultimately improve order quality and operating cash flow.
Sources: the launch of Jingui's customs-supervised export distribution warehouse; “Qinzhou Smart Manufacturing Accelerates Its Global Reach.”
CONCLUSION
From Manufacturing Scale to Operating Quality
Jingui's No. 11 position in the association's output table for key producers places it at a meaningful scale benchmark. More important is the combination of capabilities created by support from group forestry resources, diversified raw-material procurement, eucalyptus chemi-mechanical pulp, a premium folding boxboard platform, utilities and port logistics.
This combination provides a foundation for coordinated manufacturing, but operating results remain exposed to the industry cycle. Changes in revenue, profit and operating cash flow in 2024 show that scale does not automatically become operating quality. Output growth in 2025 and production data for the first four months of 2026 show that the manufacturing base remains active. The next question is whether product mix, sheet quality, export orders, profitability and operating cash flow can increasingly move in the same direction.
For value-chain partners, the opportunities are therefore specific: materials should improve sheet and converting performance; equipment should raise operating stability and grade-change efficiency; packaging converters should translate base-paper performance into end-use value; and logistics should shorten delivery and collection cycles.
These are precisely the areas that BIOTEN Packaging continues to monitor—areas that can be validated by customers, data and cash flow. Only when the right material enters the right paper grade, and the right base paper enters the right packaging application, can manufacturing capability become durable value.
Next Article · No. 12 in the Association's Output Table for Key Producers
Wuhan Golden Phoenix Paper Co., Ltd.
2025 paper and paperboard output: 2.4810 million tonnes · Up 12.43% year on year
The next article will continue by verifying its product mix, raw-material system and customer-delivery capabilities. Source: China Paper Association, 2025 Annual Report of China's Paper Industry.
BIOTEN Packaging · Industry Insights · Research Note
This article uses the China Paper Association to establish the series order; statutory disclosures to verify financial data; Guangxi Daily and the company website to verify production lines and capacity; equipment-supplier materials to verify the chemi-mechanical-pulp-to-board relationship; and environmental disclosures to verify project stage. Information was checked through August 2026.
Output, capacity, revenue, profit, cash flow, product catalogues, supplier case studies, self-monitoring, EIA stage and customer adoption represent different levels of evidence. Company websites, supplier materials and media interviews are used according to the scope of the disclosing party and do not replace audited financial statements, independent testing, EIA approval or compliance evidence for the finished package.
This is independent research based on public information. It does not constitute a partnership endorsement, product certification, investment advice or a basis for any transaction.
BIOTEN Observer Data and Verification Sources
1. China Paper Association, 2025 Annual Report of China's Paper Industry
2. Jinyuan Securities, 2024 Bond Trustee Report of Guangxi Jingui Pulp & Paper Co., Ltd.
3. Guangxi Daily, “Industry Accelerates as Spring Arrives”
4. Jingui company profile
5. Jingui product information
6. ANDRITZ, final acceptance of the upgrade to Jingui's two P-RC APMP lines
7. Valmet, “BCTMP Line Proves Success at Guangxi Jingui Pulp & Paper”
8. China Industry News, citing Qinzhou Daily, “A Green Engine Powers a Hundred-Billion-Yuan Industry”
9. “Qinzhou Smart Manufacturing Accelerates Its Global Reach”
10. Launch of Jingui's customs-supervised export distribution warehouse
11. Guangxi Jingui Pulp & Paper Co., Ltd., 2025 self-monitoring disclosure
12. Guangxi Daily, February 2026 public-participation notice
13. Paper Industry Observer, citing the publication of the project report
14. APP China, overview of its China operations and integrated plantation–pulp–paper model
