Coronavirus Follow-up Survey Results

Paperitalo Staff


On April 6, 2020, Paperitalo Publications did a follow-up survey regarding the coronavirus and how it's affecting the pulp and paper industry. Below are the responses that we received. Please note, if the responses do not total 100%, it indicates that some individuals did not answer certain questions.

With regards to demographics in the survey responses, 9.1% were from Brazil, 9.1% were from the Philippines and the rest were from the United States.

58.3% of the respondents work for producers to the pulp and paper industry, while the remainder were either suppliers or other.

Increased cleaning, social distancing, wearing PPE, thermometers at entrance, and minimizing people at the work site were the most common precautionary measures mentioned.

50% of the respondents stated that the coronavirus has caused moderate negative business impact, 16.7% stated the impact was severe, 16.7% stated that the impact was minor, and 16.7% stated there was no impact.

One-third of the respondents stated that they've experienced a reduction in labor due to the coronavirus, while 58% stated there was no reduction in labor.

41% of the respondents that they were concerned about losing their job, while the remainder stated they were not concerned.

With regards to the question "Is your company experiencing an interruption in the supply of materials?" 27% of the respondents stated yes, 27% stated no, 9% stated very few, and the remainder of the respondents either did not know or it wasn't applicable.

54% of the respondents stated that they anticipate losing orders in 2020 as a result of the coronavirus, 18% stated they didn't anticipate losing orders, 9% stated it was probably a wash, 9% stated that travel restrictions has resulted in not being able to do consulting and 9% stated orders were up.

73% of the respondents stated they are worried about future supply chain interruptions and 27% stated they were not worried.

Half of the respondents that are suppliers stated that projects have been cancelled, while the other half stated no projects have been cancelled.

18% of the respondents that work for producers responded that there have been coronavirus outbreaks at their mill, while 63% stated there have been no outbreaks, and the remainder stated they were not sure.

58% of the respondents stated that they were not optimistic that the economy will rebound within 2-3 months, 33% stated that they were optimistic, and the remainder stated it will rebound within 4-5 months.

58% of the respondents answered that their company anticipates a change in operations as a result of the outbreak, 33% answered they do not anticipate a chance in operations and the remainder answered that it was possible.

We are all in this together, as one community, one industry.

Paperitalo Publications is here to help. We will continue reporting the news.

Stay safe!