cost go higher and higher, adding to that the energy and labor cost that also went up, as I mentioned earlier. How does Lebanon being on the map of exploiting oil and gas help the economical sector and the paper industry in particular? I believe we need support programs from the government, check the European countries, England and Germany for example when government banned the usage of coal and obliged the reduction of CO2 emission, it assisted and gave huge support for the manufacturer each in this field, precisely in the energy cost, by paying the extra cost of fuel price.
It is a very promising and encouraging dream, but can we survive as industry till that time?!
And what made the curve go down?
As we were obliged to reduce production because of stoppage of export, we are trying to cut on our fixed costs, this is the most important action to be taken now. Also searching for markets with the possibility of sea freight shipping, since land freight had became very expensive as I said before.
Beside the global economical crisis, and international descending curve in paper industry, the raw material & energy high cost, labor cost compared to Asian countries, had their influence on this curve. In addition the conflict in Arab countries; like Egypt and Syria had a great negative impact on production capacity and sales volume, since they had the biggest share of our production; also other Arab countries couldn’t be reached by land freight which couldn’t be replaced by economical rate via sea freight like Saudi Arabia for example. So, what are the required solutions? The only and urgent solution is reducing cost of energy in addition to preserving our raw material. The Arab countries put duties on exporting the raw material like Jordan and Egypt for instance, while others forbade it like Syria, I believe we should do the same. China today is sucking the world raw material (waste paper) importing mainly from Europe and the US. On the other hand, Europe is no longer counting on wood to make its raw material (which environmentally is a wise decision), but this induced the cost of raw material to go high worldwide, and China’s huge consumption made the
You talked earlier about the Arab conflict, my question is: what procedures the company took following the migratory waves of the conflict in the bordering and surrounding countries?
And far from work, what hobbies do you practice Mr. Ghandour? Mainly jogging in the early morning, hiking to breathe fresh air and feel the liberty, to get in touch with nature leaving the office stress behind. I also go for skiing when work permits. Interesting! And how would you like to conclude this interview? We the industrialists; mainly in the paper industry sector, and the Association of Arab Paper Industries, must take lessons from Europe regarding our sector. We must find solutions to protect ourselves from the countries that are sucking our raw material, and where their labor cost is much cheaper than ours, because they are invading our market! So, let us join our forces for specialization by categories, thus, stop individualism in the way of thinking, and let us consolidate mergers. Thank you for your time, wishing you all the best! papermiddleast 17