With over 18 years of experience, Forest Resources’ focus is on sourcing the right paper and boards for end customers based in the Indian Sub-continent, Middle East, the US, Africa, and the Far East. For the last 7 years, the company’s emphasis has been on secondary fibers, specifically waste paper. Currently, Forest Resources’ annual numbers are 1,50,000 tonnes for secondary fiber and 40,000 tonnes for prime paper, with exports from India. This was revealed by Mr. Abbas Jani, Marketing & Trade Director & Founder of Forest Resources and Mr. Andrea Torre, Commercial Director, Lamacart, while speaking to Paper Mart magazine.
Paper Mart: Kindly walk us through the business journey of Forest Resources, highlighting major milestones and crucial achievements.
Abbas Jani: I’ve been into paper trade, especially in the export-import business, since 2008. Prior to that, I worked in the domestic paper market for around 5-6 years. I moved into the international secondary fiber market in 2008. Since 2014, I have been into the trading of finished paper. I was working with European companies as their Regional Sales Manager in the Middle East market, when I got inspired to open my own company. I established Forest Resources in 2015 in India. We began on a small scale, importing a stocklot of paper and exporting finished paper.
PM: What does the product basket of Forest Resources contain? Which are the industries where your products find application?
AJ: Our extensive product basket comprises secondary fibers, we mainly sell Lamacart owned Supermarket OCC in the brown grades, a very well-known product in India. We also sell OCC 90/10. Then we have our tobacco boxes, fruit boxes and NCC. We supply to the de-inking paper mills, SOP 2, Hard Mix and BBC. We also do poly trims, polycups, scan foil, BBC foil, core and tetra alu.
In the packaging boards category, we do cupstocks, folding box boards, liquid packaging boards, SBS boards, duplex boards, etc. The corrugated category comprises kraft liners, kraftliner substitutes, high-performance test liners, white top kraftliners and white top testliners. We do a lot of publishing grades also, such as woodfree, C2S art paper, copier paper, book paper, newprint, etc. Besides, we have specialty paper like bleached kraft & sack kraft paper.
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PM: Kindly tell us more about your market footprint and major clientele.
AJ: Forest Resources works as sole agent of Lamacart for the sales of secondary fibers. We do 60 percent of our business directly with the mills and 40 percent with traders to balance our cash flow. Today, we are doing around 10,000 tons of paper per month. We are currently supplying our products to almost 95 mills across India. Forest Resources covers almost the entire northern and southern parts of the country with its channel sub-agents. We sell to Haldia in Eastern India also. We have a footprint in the Middle East, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. In the Far East, we have a good foothold in Vietnam and Thailand. We recently entered the Indonesian market and wish to enhance our presence there.
PM: Please tell us more about your partner of 17 years – Lamacart.
AJ: Lamacart is the biggest waste paper trader, which collects around 50,000 tons of paper monthly. Italy has the highest number of waste paper exports to India since the local demand is less. They do a lot of exports outside Europe. Forest Resources has tied up with Lamacart to officially sell its products in India. I got associated with Lamacart in 2008. Initially, it was not easy for the grades coming from Europe. We did a lot of shipments to India, Indonesia and the Far East, including China, which was easy at that time. In 2008, we sold our goods via traders, not directly under the name of Lamacart. Ever since I left my job in the UAE in 2018, we have been very aggressive with Lamacart. We started shipping the goods to India and selling directly in the Indian market. Over the last five years, Lamacart has become a recognized brand in India. We have shared a healthy relationship with Lamacart for almost 17 years now.
PM: How does Lamacart ensure sustainable sourcing of recyclable materials?
Andrea Torre: The activities of Lamacart in the collection, selection and recycling of recovered paper began in 1934 in the Villafranca di Verona region of Northern Italy, where it still has its headquarters, in a strategic position close to all the main seaports. Since the beginning, the company has been structured and organized with a vision to develop at an international level, operating in the Italian market as a specialized operator for all public & private companies. We propose ourselves to the paper industry as a reference partner for the regular and continuous supply of selected & qualified raw materials.
We are capable of covering the entire national territory, thanks to a network of affiliated plants and transport companies. Collection takes place on the basis of medium/long-term contracts, which allow continuity and volume development. The entire structure has certified processes, aimed at ensuring maximum efficiency and sustainability in all phases, guaranteeing precise and careful traceability of the materials treated.
PM: What are the biggest challenges facing the paper industry today? How does Lamacart address these challenges through its operations?
AT: Lamacart has always operated through a consolidated structure; a vision to achieve maximum efficiency & concreteness; and an ability to adapt & anticipate all developments in the sector. We continue to achieve maximum results in separate collection of the recovered paper and quality of the material supplied. This places us, together with our country, among the first in Europe, having already achieved a recovery rate of 92.3 percent against the EU target of 85 percent set for 2030. Even in terms of quality, we are the only State in the EU to already have the End of Waste (EOW) in place, which allows us to supply international paper mills with qualified and certified raw material. All this has been achieved through continuous investments in development and technology. Our cutting-edge structures and systems allow us to work with maximum efficiency and environmental sustainability, while constant control eliminates out throws to obtain a very high quality product.
PM: In Lamacart’s view, what are the key factors that will drive growth in the paper recycling market globally and in India?
AT: Paper recycling is one of the primary objectives of all international legislation and organizations, which work for protection of our planet and have respect for the future generations. The products placed on the market will consequently and increasingly be based on recycling from the origin, delegating specific responsibilities on part of the producers. The need for secondary raw materials will become increasingly important and strategic. Lamacart sees in Italy a great opportunity for collecting and supplying to the paper mills high quality raw materials, with India being an important destination market.
The Indian paper industry is carrying out a unique global development plan, which is a point of reference for us. Our business strategy involves conducting 60 percent of our transactions directly with the mills. The remaining 40 percent is managed by Paperlink International Limited, which facilitates the sale of our products to Indian paper mills. Paperlink regularly purchases Lamacart material from us, leveraging our longstanding relationship to reach customers that we do not currently serve. We maintain a robust partnership with the Director of Paperlink, Mr. Abilfazal Jani
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PM: Please share your views about the challenges faced by the industry.
AJ: The shortage of secondary fiber has always been an issue and lately, there have been geographical challenges also. Italy was the first country to be affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. We faced a lot of issues in completing the shipments, including high shipping rates, but still managed to continue our business. The global mills need good fibers and Europe has always been a very good source of fiber. Seeing the demand locally in America, the US exports have been reducing over the period and the price has gone very high in that country. Europe is aggressive in the Indian markets and Italy.
PM: Where do you see yourself five years down the line?
AJ: Our current target is around 10,000 tons of paper to India every month. We are looking to boost it up to 20,000 tons per month before the end of 2024. We are trying to collaborate with some other plants and increase our quantity.
PM: What is the USP of Forest Resources that sets it apart from others? How do you manage to stay ahead of the curve in the industry?
AJ: We are indenters, exporters and importers of sustainable paper, pulp and board. Forest Resources enables you to make the right choices from the paper industry with unmatched insight via marketing and technical support. Our focus is on sourcing the right paper and boards for end customers based in the Middle East, the US, Africa and the Far East. Forest Resources has carved a niche for itself in the global market. We aim to become a reliable paper agent to the world, keeping quality, consistency and trust at the core.
