In 2021, the price of domestic base paper keeps rising, and the price of carton rises one after another. The situation seems to be more serious in South Korea, which is adjacent to China. At present, there is a 30% gap in corrugated paper supply in South Korea. At present, not only the operating rate of the carton factory has dropped sharply or even stopped work, but also the merchants are unable to deliver goods normally due to the lack of cartons, resulting in a decline in sales.
There is a serious shortage of corrugated paper and a shortage of cartons
A few days ago, CCTV financial report said that for the South Korean people, although the uproar of the courier strike has been cancelled, many people found that when they sent packages to the post office, cartons began to be limited, supermarkets no longer provided packing cartons, and many online shop sellers were unable to deliver goods normally because they did not have packing cartons.
According to the report, reporters searched for “cartons” on several online shopping platforms in South Korea, almost all of which were out of stock regardless of size. This situation is mainly due to the serious shortage of corrugated paper, the raw material for making cartons
Last year, South Korea implemented a new waste paper import declaration system, resulting in a decrease in waste paper imports and a shortage of raw materials for corrugated paper production;
In October last year, a fire broke out in a large paper mill, which accounted for 7% of the market for corrugated raw materials, resulting in a further shortage of raw materials.
At the same time, due to the increase of express delivery volume at the end of the year, compared with the demand, there is a 30% gap in the supply of corrugated paper. At present, not only the operating rate of carton enterprises has dropped sharply or even stopped work, but also the sales volume of merchants has declined due to the lack of carton delivery. Although the relevant departments of South Korea have now increased efforts to import raw materials from abroad and allocate raw materials from other industries, the effect is not obvious.
Korea express package volume increases by 10% per year
On the one hand, the supply of express cartons is in a hurry, while on the other hand, the demand for express packages in South Korea is surging. In recent years, the number of express packages in South Korea has increased by 10% every year. Last year, the consumption of takeout and online shopping increased greatly, and the number of express packages increased by 21% year on year.
At the same time, the hidden danger of Korean express strike has not been completely eliminated. Last week, in the presence of the government, the three major South Korean express companies promised to invest a lot of manpower in parcel sorting before the 4th of this month, and agreed that the couriers could work up to 60 hours a week.
However, it is precisely because of the repeated violation of the agreement by the express delivery enterprises that the working environment of the express delivery personnel is deteriorating day by day. Many details need to be further improved, such as whether the express enterprises can abide by the contract, how to pay for the courier’s participation in parcel sorting in the future, and how to adjust the distribution system.
As more and more platforms focus on day delivery and early morning delivery, while the express industry is speeding up, there are also many new problems. How to not only meet the growing demand of the people, but also balance the work intensity of the courier and the interests of the enterprise, is a long-term issue facing the Korean society.
Post time: Feb-05-2021