Bamboo Paper: What Buyers Should Know

Sheeon Pulp Technical Team | Jinan Sheeon Co., Ltd. | Published and last reviewed: October 15, 2026

Bamboo paper is paper made wholly or partly from bamboo pulp, so buying it means choosing a pulp grade. Sheeon publishes bleached bamboo pulp at about 85% brightness with fibers longer than 1.7 mm, and unbleached at 40–43% brightness with fibers longer than 2.2 mm.

The figures in this guide come from Sheeon’s published product specifications as of October 2026. They are website-stated values, not certified test reports.

What “bamboo paper” means on a purchase order

The phrase covers a wide range. A sheet can be 100% bamboo fiber, a blend of bamboo and wood pulp, or a wood-based sheet with a small bamboo share used mainly for marketing. Nothing in the term itself tells you which one you are getting. The same is true of the plural search variants, “bamboo papers” and “bamboo pulp paper.”

For a manufacturer, the practical consequence is simple: specify the pulp, not the paper name. A request for “bamboo paper” will draw quotes for very different materials. A request for bleached bamboo pulp at a stated brightness, fiber length and strength index can be compared line by line.

How bamboo becomes pulp

Bamboo is chipped, cooked with chemicals to separate the fibers from lignin, washed, and then either bleached or left unbleached. Kraft and soda cooking are both common chemical routes for non-wood fiber. This description is industry-general knowledge. Sheeon’s published pages do not state which cooking route or bleaching sequence it uses for bamboo pulp, so ask for that in writing if your process or customer audit depends on it. For a stage-by-stage walkthrough, see our guide on how bamboo pulping works.

Bleached or unbleached: the first decision

Everything downstream depends on this choice, so settle it before comparing suppliers. Here are the two Sheeon bamboo grades side by side, using the values on the product pages:

Two things stand out. The unbleached grade has the longer published fiber length but lower strength indices. The likely reason is that bleaching and processing change fiber properties, but Sheeon does not publish an explanation, so treat that as a question for the supplier rather than a fact. And brightness is the only parameter where the grades differ by roughly a factor of two. If the end product needs a white sheet, the unbleached grade is not a candidate. If it does not, you may be paying for brightness you do not need.

Reading the Bleached Bamboo Pulp spec sheet

Bleached Bamboo Pulp is the grade most paper makers ask about first, so it is worth reading line by line.

• Brightness (~85%). Published as an approximate figure, not a minimum. Ask whether 85% is a typical value or a guaranteed floor, because the two lead to different incoming-inspection criteria.
• Dirt count. Published in two size bands, <25 mm²/500 g for 0.3–1.0 mm² specks and <20 mm²/500 g for 1.0–4.0 mm² specks, with no specks above 4.0 mm². For white printing and tissue grades, visible specks are what customers complain about, so the larger band matters most.
• Strength indices. Tensile >55 N·m/g, tear >8.5 mN·m²/g, burst >5.0 kPa·m²/g. These are lower bounds. They tell you what the pulp should at least deliver at the tested beating condition. The page does not publish the beating degree for bamboo pulp, so the strength figures cannot be reproduced on your refiner without a sample.
• Viscosity (600–800 ml/g). A proxy for cellulose chain length. It is useful for judging how gently the pulp was cooked and bleached.
• Test methods. The product page references GB/T 8940.2, GB/T 10740, GB/T 7982, GB/T 1548 and GB/T 10336-2002, but does not map each method to a parameter. When you request a test report, ask which method was used for each line.

Parameters Sheeon does not publish for bamboo pulp on the page used here: moisture, pH, ash, bale size and bale weight. Request them before you finalize an incoming-goods specification.

Bamboo against bagasse and wheat straw

Buyers who consider bamboo often consider two other alternative fibers at the same time. Here are the bleached grades from Sheeon’s own catalog:

Compared with the bagasse and wheat straw grades in the same catalog, bleached bamboo pulp has the highest published brightness and the highest published tear and burst floors. Its published fiber length is also longer than wheat straw’s. Compared with conventional wood-pulp-only sourcing, the difference is mainly raw material: bamboo gives you a non-wood fiber source, but Sheeon does not publish a head-to-head comparison against any wood pulp grade, so any strength-per-dollar argument has to come from your own trial.

A caution on the dirt count row. The size bands differ across the three products, and the wheat straw figure does not state its band on the page. These numbers are not directly comparable, and ranking the three by dirt count would be wrong. Ask each grade’s report for the same bands before comparing.

Where bamboo paper tends to fit

Sheeon’s published pages do not provide an application-by-grade matrix for bamboo pulp, so the following is an industry-general reading of the parameters, to be confirmed on samples.

• Tissue and household paper. Brightness and low specks matter most for visual quality, and tear and burst floors matter for converting. Bleached grade is the natural starting point.
• Printing and writing grades from integrated or non-integrated mills. Bamboo pulp is typically blended with other fiber to balance cost, strength and formation. Blend ratio is a trial question, and Sheeon does not publish recommended ratios.
• Brown or natural-colored paper and packaging-type products. Here the unbleached grade is the logical candidate, since brightness is not the specification driver.
  A paper maker running a trial should change one variable at a time. Run the bamboo pulp in at a modest share first, measure the sheet, and move up only if formation and strength hold.

Mistakes that cost buyers a sample cycle

• Treating “bamboo” as a quality grade. It names the fiber, not the quality. Two bamboo pulps can differ widely in brightness, specks and strength.
• Comparing strength figures from different beating conditions. A tear index measured at one beating degree cannot be compared with a figure measured at another.
• Assuming a bleached grade is chlorine-free. The page used here does not describe the bleaching chemistry for bamboo pulp. Only the wheat straw grade is labeled TCF (totally chlorine free) in Sheeon’s materials. If your customer requires a chlorine-free claim for bamboo, get it documented.
• Reading the “FSC” line as a lot-level guarantee. The website lists FSC for bamboo pulp, but the certificate holder, scope and status are not shown on the pages reviewed. See the next section.

A six-step checklist for evaluating a bamboo pulp supplier

• Decide bleached or unbleached from the brightness your product needs.
• Request the full spec sheet, including moisture, pH, ash, bale size and bale weight.
• Ask which test method was used for each parameter and at what beating degree.
• Request FSC, SGS and any food-contact documents, then verify FSC in the public database.
• Order a sample large enough for a real trial run, not just a lab handsheet. Sheeon reports customers in 50+ countries and offers sample development, so sample logistics are part of its normal process.
• Compare the trial sheet against your current furnish on formation, strength and visible specks before you discuss volume.

What this guide does not settle

Beating degree, moisture, pH and bale format for bamboo pulp are not on the pages used here, and no blend-ratio guidance is published. Those three gaps are the first questions for a technical call. For fiber structure in more depth, see the guide on bamboo pulp fiber properties. For a non-wood fiber with a different raw-material profile, the guides on wheat straw pulp grades and sugarcane bagasse composition are the next reads.

FAQ

Q: Is bamboo paper the same as bamboo pulp?

A: No. Bamboo pulp is the raw fiber material. Bamboo paper is the finished sheet, which can be fully or partly made from that pulp.

Q: What brightness does Sheeon’s bleached bamboo pulp have?

A: Sheeon publishes about 85% for bleached bamboo pulp and 40–43% for the unbleached grade.

Q: How long are the fibers in Sheeon’s bamboo pulp?

A: The published fiber length is above 1.7 mm for bleached and above 2.2 mm for unbleached bamboo pulp.

Q: Is Sheeon’s bamboo pulp FSC certified?

A: The website lists FSC for bamboo pulp, but certificate details are not published. Verify the holder, scope and status in the FSC public certificate database.

Q: How much does bamboo pulp cost?

A: Pricing is on request and depends on grade, specification, order volume, packaging and delivery requirements.