After the "plastic ban" entered the countdown stage, the paper straws considered by the outside world to be more environmentally friendly became the "eye of the storm" of controversy.

Some reporters have learned that since the Ministry of Commerce issued the "Notice on Further Strengthening the Treatment of Plastic Pollution in the Commercial Field" on August 28, it is clearly required that by the end of 2020, non-degradable disposable plastic straws should be banned in the catering industry nationwide. The high-pressure policy has caused the plastic straw market to shrink suddenly, and the market for paper straws has rocketed. A number of well-known tea brands, such as Heytea and Starbucks, have successively launched the "tube replacement" action to replace paper straws with paper straws.

But with the soaring demand for paper straws in China and the expansion of market share, chaos in the industry has also arisen.

A number of raw material suppliers and equipment factories in the straw industry broke the news that since the state promulgated the ban on plastics, some large packaging material suppliers have begun to develop new business in paper straws. In the production process of their products, although they unanimously declare that they are processed and manufactured by source manufacturers, in fact there are situations such as OEM or outsourcing of orders, and some orders are handed over to small factories for completion.

OEM, order outsourcing and other chaos are beginning to appear

The soaring profits of the paper straw industry naturally attracted capital to "snap up", but at the same time, some industry chaos problems have gradually emerged.

"The straws of the same chain brand have different tastes in different regions, and even the color and quality are quite different. The experience is not very good." Many milk tea lovers recently used paper straws and couldn't help complaining to reporters. .

In this regard, a paper straw distributor who did not want to be fully named explained to reporters, "Some large manufacturers have orders beyond the actual production capacity, but in order to complete the orders as scheduled, they choose to send the orders to other small manufacturers. This will lead to uneven quality of raw materials and uneven quality of finished products."

It is understood that according to relevant regulations, straws are food-related products and must have QS-related certification marks on the outer packaging, and label the materials used, the name of the factory and other relevant information in accordance with national regulations. In fact, after major factories received orders, they sent the orders to other factories for on-demand processing and OEM operations began to appear frequently in the paper straw manufacturing industry. Therefore, the product quality cannot be guaranteed.

"For the emerging industry of paper straws, if the quality control is not strict in the initial stage, not only will the product quality back down the brand credibility, but more importantly, the impact on the health of consumers cannot be guaranteed." A senior tea drinker Practitioners in the industry are very worried about this.

One thing worth noting is that chaos in the paper straw industry began in 2018.

According to relevant media reports, paper straws were mainly exported overseas at that time. At that time, overseas markets did not have high requirements for product quality. A large number of players swarmed in. A large number of straws were placed in water to open glue, and even the paper straws became moldy and worms. Subsequently, related requirements and standards in overseas markets continued to improve, and most small companies began to be "retired", but machinery and equipment and inventory factories still exist to this day.

The reporter also learned that major domestic tea brands have strict requirements for paper straws, and there are currently fewer domestic manufacturers that can meet relevant requirements. For example, in the process of making paper straws, it is necessary to constantly adjust the machine according to customer needs and paper specifications. Especially in the drying process, it is more difficult for inexperienced companies. Eventually, the contradiction between the supplier's market and market demand does not match.

Unguaranteed product quality

Paper straws produced by modern processing plants are constantly on the market, causing concerns among many industry practitioners.

A middle-level manager of a paper straw company explained that in order to control source costs and reduce self-manufacturing expenses, some large paper straw processing factories usually adopt the method of outsourcing orders and grab most of the profits. However, some small manufacturers who assume the role of contract processing producers are unwilling to make small profits only by completing orders. Coupled with multiple factors such as rising raw material costs, the industry problem of cutting corners and shoddy materials has emerged.

In addition, many people in the paper mill industry also revealed that some paper straw manufacturers have even begun to use industrial paper and non-food grade glue to make paper straws, disrupting the benign market order.

Why is it difficult for small factories to enter the paper straw industry? A person in charge of a paper straw processing plant said that although the cost of paper straw equipment is relatively low, a series of links such as workshop site costs, decoration costs, and stocking costs need to be heavy. Capital investment is the biggest problem for small processing plants.

In addition to the production process, the cost of applying for a paper straw product qualification is also quite high.

"Qualifications such as ISO22000 and BRC are difficult to pass, mainly from three aspects. The first is the strength of the factory and the environmental layout of the workshop; the second is that the company must be equipped with all assembly line personnel; the third is the company's annual capital scale. "The above-mentioned person in charge added. According to incomplete statistics, there are only less than 10 mature enterprises that meet this qualification requirement.

Therefore, under the influence of various factors such as technical requirements and the high price of paper raw materials, most small and medium-sized terminal manufacturers are still in the wait-and-see stage, and they have not participated in industry competition by gravity, and finally formed a small number of manufacturers that occupy a larger market share. Unbalanced competition pattern.

A research scholar who has been engaged in the straw industry for a long time believes that the paper straw industry is very likely to become the next billion-dollar new tuyere track. Based on the "plastic ban", some traditional companies are forced to transform against the trend and enrich the market. However, in the early stage of the industry's development, product quality and popularity are the core factors to ensure the healthy development of the paper straw industry.

"Not only that, the market for R&D personnel and technical personnel who can ensure mass production quality is relatively tight, and many companies are highly paid employees who hire paper straw equipment." The above-mentioned scholars are most worried about, "If large manufacturers blindly pursue orders Market share and product quality are uneven, which will squeeze the growth companies that pass the quality but have a relatively small market share, which will affect their enthusiasm. Eventually, they will inevitably bring about disorderly and malicious competition in the industry, which will affect the entire market order of paper straws. .

Some people in the industry said that the country is becoming more and more aggressive in the treatment of plastic pollution, and paper straws will become a hot product in the paper industry. With the drafting and release of relevant standards, paper straw products will change from unacceptable to regulated. And to completely replace plastic straws, the development of paper straws needs to be more standardized. In the future, a sound and scientific paper straw quality supervision system will gradually take shape and become popular, laying a solid foundation for sustainable development.