Business Strategy

Paper and White Paperboard Business

Paper

Our main product varieties in the paper segment include printing and communication paper used for books, magazines, catalogs, and brochures. We offer a diverse product lineup of high-quality coated paper, fine paper, mechanical paper, and bulky mechanical coated paper that has excellent printing and workability characteristics, as well as rich expressive capabilities. Through these offerings, we strive to meet the diverse needs of our customers. Our core products are coated paper and woodfree paper, and in color woodfree paper we are a top domestic brand with a long-standing tradition and a wide range of products, widely favored by many customers.

White Paperboard

We offer a wide range of grades in our white paperboard product line, from cast-coated paper to art card and premium white paperboard (SBS), specialty white paperboard (FBB), and coated duplex board (CCNB), to meet the diverse needs of our customers. These grades are used not only for packaging boxes but also for commercial printing materials such as catalogs, brochures, and postcards, as well as for covers, text for publishing, and processing base paper. We strive to develop new products to meet recent demand for primary food containers

Performance Materials Business

Functional Paper

We develop specialty paper and performance materials that expand the possibilities of paper. We offer a wide range of products to meet customers’ diverse needs, including industrial paper, communication paper, specialty processed products, specialty fiberboard, and more.

Containerboard Base Paper

Since April 2020, we have been engaged in the production and sales of base paper for corrugated media. We are promoting thin and high-strength reinforced media for lightweight solutions.

Paper Cup Base Paper

In October 2022, we set up a new dedicated office to fully enter into the market for cup stock paper and paper containers. Our products, which are plastic-free and environmentally friendly, have been adopted as containers for frozen food, and we have received orders from major food companies.

Packaging and Paper Processing

Hokuetsu Package Co., Ltd. is responsible for this field, which engages in the manufacturing and sale of high-quality paperboard, laminated products, liquid containers, and other packaging solutions.

Overseas Business

Exports

In April 2024, the Global Trading Division was established to further strengthen competitiveness in our export business. Our mills have excellent export competitiveness and product development capabilities so that the Hokuetsu brand is widely recognized. We export approximately 300,000 metric tons annually. In the paper segment, we boast an overwhelming export share among Japanese manufacturers.

Pulp

Canada-based Alberta-Pacific Forest Industries Inc. engages in the manufacturing and sale of commercial pulp. Production covers both hardwood and softwood pulp, with a production capacity of 640,000 metric tons per year, making this one of the largest operations in North America. The company also operates a power generation business, supplying and selling electricity generated from biomass to the power grid in Alberta Province.

Performance Materials

France-based Bernard Dumas S.A.S. primarily produces AGM battery separators made from glass fiber, as well as air purification filter paper. Shanghai Toh Tech Co., Ltd., based in China, processes products used in the manufacture of chip carrier tapes used for transporting electronic components such as capacitors and resistors.