Background (Date: November, 2017):
Connect Chemicals, the world’s largest supplier of leuco dye chemical to make thermal paper, was shut down by China government due to environment reasons in September, 2017. China launched strict environment inspection from 2016. The government closed polluting factories, mines and processing facilities. For paper industry, they eliminated backward and excess capacity and shut down many small paper factories.
Current Situation:
Thermal paper supply is not adequate to the demand. Thermal paper distributors have been told that, thermal paper is under allocation at present according to assuming quantity in the previous year. Look at the announcements by thermal paper suppliers:
Ritemade October, 2017
Telemark November, 2017
Appvion October, 2017
What will Happen in 2018?
To protect our planet, strict environmental policy is a must. It’s only one and a half month before 2018, but the shortage just starts. For Connet Chemicals, it takes time to adjust to meet environmental standards. We have no idea when Connect Chemicals will be back on track. As estimated, thermal paper shortage could last unill mid of 2018.
Update:
Till December 30, 2017, Connect Chemicals hasn’t returned normal production. The price of leudo dye from other suppliers continues to increase at a high speed. This leads to unstoppable increasing price of thermal paper.
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