Journal of Korea TAPPI ISSN:0253-3200(Print) 펄프종이기술

The primary objective of the study is to examine how the increase of internet and smartphone penetration affects paper consumption. In this study, paper consumption is disaggregated by use into the following categories: aggregate paper, newsprint, printing and writing paper, wrapping and packaging paper and paperboard. The results show that the increase of internet penetration significantly decreases the consumption of newsprint, printing and writing paper, as well as aggregate paper. However, the wrapping and packaging paper and paperboard is not affected by the increase of internet penetration. This results from the fact that newsprint, printing and writing paper are more likely to be displaced by the internet, whereas the wrapping and packaging paper and paperboard is unlikely to be affected by the diffusion of the internet. The growth of smartphone penetration rate does not have a statistically significant impact on paper consumption as a whole due to its short history of adoption.