Pan Paper woes - no ready market for its products

Written by Rosemary Wachiye 2011-11-22 18:41:00 Read 223 Times

Dr. muliaro Wafula besides a working machine during its re-opening [Photo/Rosemary Wachiye]   A month after the revival and the start of paper production in Pan Paper Factory in Webuye town, the factory now faces lacks  market for its products.   According to the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Industrialization Dr. Kibichu Karanja, the factory has been in operation since its opening a month ago and there is a lot of paper that has been produced, but there are not able to market them. [Read: Webuye Pan Paper re-opened  http://www.westfm.co.ke/mobile/index.php?page=news&id=3670   Dr.Karanja states that the factory is still under receivership of the short term lenders who are now in possession of the factory’s accounts and if they sell the paper the profits will go to the short term lenders.   “Pan Paper revival has been initiated by the government and therefore its just fair that the government should get its share of the profits made out of the sell of paper but since the Pan paper is still under receivership of the short term lenders and we fear that the money may be taken,” said Dr.Karanja.   The short term lenders were owed Sh6 Billion by the closure of Pan Paper whose security was floating assets of the factory which is yet to be settled and hence pauses as a challenge in the sell of paper produced by the factory under the new management.   Dr.Karanja has stated that over 3,000 Metric Tonnes of paper are in the factory stores waiting to be bought but they can’t seem to get market that would buy all the paper that is produced since most of the factory’s major customers were the paper convertors who found other alternative market during the period of the factory’s closure.   “The paper convertors who are the main customers to Panpaper found market elsewhere when the mill had closed down and it has been difficult to get them back,” said Dr.Karanja.   However, Dr.Karanja affirms that Panpaper is the only factory in the region that produces industrial paper and therefore, he foresees no competition from other firms. [ Read:Webuye Pan Paper eight month sustainabilty strategic plan  http://westfm.co.ke/index-page-news-bid-3711.htm]   Dr.Karanja also adds that the Ministry of Industrialization has had talks with the paper convertors and they agreed to offer them their current purchase schedule so that the factory can get to supply to them the paper as it was before.   “We have had a talk with the former customers of the factory and very soon after getting their schedule of supplies so that we can start supplying to them as it was before,” said Dr.Karanja.   Dr.Karanja has also added that they are working to see to it that soon they exit the government funds from Pan paper so that operation becomes mainly from the factory’s funds and not government. He also stated that they have plans in place to see to it that the factory continues running without fail and that it will not close down again.