Domestic shipments of paper and paperboard in 2024 dropped 2.9% from the previous year to 19.91 million tons, the lowest in 39 years, the Japan Paper Association said Thursday.
The drop came as newspaper publishers ended evening editions and the trend of reducing paper use in offices continued.
Domestic shipments fell for the third straight year and sank below 20 million tons for the first time since 19.52 million tons in 1985.
Annual shipments had hovered around 30 million tons until 2008 after peaking at 30.53 million tons in 2000.
Demand for printing paper has been declining against the backdrop of Japan's shrinking population. Demand for cardboard and other paperboard temporarily rose during the COVID-19 pandemic, when online shopping was booming, but has been sluggish since then.
Demand for newsprint and printing paper shows "no sign of stopping the decline," Toru Nozawa, head of the association and president of Nippon Paper Industries, said at a news conference Thursday.
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