Production and Diversified Uses of Kenaf in China

摘要

China has a history of kenaf cultivation for about nine decades. In the past 20 years, the total planting area of combined kenaf/jute in China ranks the third in the world, only next to India and Bangladesh, with kenaf accounting for more than 90% of the total. Average planting area was about 150,000-400,000 ha. annually, reaching a peak of over 900,000 ha. in 1985. However, in recent years, kenaf production is declining substantially facing strong competition from synthetics materials. Kenaf is a promising crop for the developments of diversified, value-added products like, pulp and paper and diversified uses for environment protection. The traditional uses of kenaf are in the packaging sector such as burlap, rope, sack and bag, mainly gunny bags. Nowadays, new kenaf products such as blankets, carpets backing, home decoration products, geo-textiles, and particleboard have been developed. The kenaf pulp and papermaking development are still in the early stage, but several kenaf mills have been built up and are operating successfully, such as Xinjiang Tunhe Paper Ltd., Miquan, Xinjiang and Sifang Paper Products Ltd., China. Xingjing has large area of uncultivated lands and dry climate in the winter which is suitable for raw materials storage, being considered a good location for kenaf paper and pulp manufacturing. Tongliao City of Inner Mongolia and Dongying City of Shandong province, China are newly developed areas for kenaf production aiming at pulp and paper manufacturing. China is the second largest paper consuming country. It has bright future to develop kenaf pulp and papermaking in China, which will supplement wood pulp.