Western Europe's production and consumption of paper, paperboard and all grades of pulp fell sharply during the Second World War, and in 1950 output and consumption were still considerably below the levels of the immediate pre-war years. Developments in the individual countries were, however, not the same. In those countries which today belong to the European Free Trade Association (including Finland) the production and net export of paper and board in 1950 were considerably higher than in 1938, whereas consumption was approximately the same. This rise in the production and net export from the EFTA countries was mainly accounted for by the three Nordic countries - Finland, Norway and Sweden - which together raised their output by almost one third. Production, net trade and consumption of all grades of wood pulp in the EFTA countries were, however, approximately the same in 1950 as immediately before the war. In the countries which are now members of the European Economic Community the production and consumption of paper and board dropped substantially from 1938 to 1950. This decline amounting, to about one fourth of production and one fifth of consumption in 1938, is only to a small extent explained by the fact that the pre-war statistics include also Eastern Germany. An even larger drop from pre-war levels was recorded for the production and consumption of wood pulp; production fell by some 45 percent, mainly because of a drastic reduction of German output, and consumption by about one fourth. In the Rest of Western Europe, i.e. in Greece, Iceland, Ireland and Spain, both production and consumption of paper, board and pulp increased substantially relative to the levels of 1938. In terms of total quantities, however, the increase were, of course, of no significance as compared with the changes which occurred in the other sub-regions or in the area as a whole. In the ten years from 1950 to 1960 there was a sharp increase in the production and consumption of paper, board and pulp. Again, developments were different in the three sub-regions and in the individual countries; neither were they the same for the different graqdes of paper and board not for pulp. We shall first summarize the changes which occurred in the total of all grades of paper and pulp in the region as a whole and in the sub-regions and then take a look at the developments of the main categories of products.
