2 The General Statistical Bureau in Poland shows that the output of the pulp and paper industry for the second quarter of 1999 recorded growing demand for products in this industry. It is not yet known whether this trend will continue, but buyers continue to stock these products. This appears to follow similar world market trends. Demand for paper is considered an indication of a nation's prosperity. Demand for paper and paper products keeps growing, as revenues and standards of living increase.
Business represents a large part of the demand, in particular in the packing paper segment.
Still, the amount of paper used in Poland is 2 to 3 times lower than in most OECD countries. Demand is expected to continue to grow. Investments increased by over 17 percent in 1998. The country's machine pool needs new technologies to replace the current obsolete machine pool. In the last couple of years, Polish manufacturers introduced a number of new products, like high quality xerox and offset paper, plus paper for printing newspapers.