Big things are happening in the luxury industry! The North American group GPA acquired Cosfibel, one of the main players in the luxury promotional packaging, luxury gifts and merchandising solutions industry. Cosfibel has an impressive customer list of more than 70 global brands! This external growth operation will allow GPA to establish itself as a world leader in the luxury packaging sector and allow it to pursue its objective to increase its production capacity in North America and abroad. It will also strengthen the European presence of GPA through Cosfibel’s main production sites in Spain, Portugal and Belgium. Adam Melton (photo), co-founder and CEO of GPA, said: “I am very pleased to welcome the Cosfibel team to the GPA family. Marie Sermadiras, Managing Director of Cosfibel, is a “serial” entrepreneur who joined GPA’s management to help it continue its European expansion. Our global supply chain and production capabilities will allow us to better support Cosfibel customers and increase our visibility in the beauty and food industry while strengthening our leadership in wine and spirits. Cosfibel has a talented team around the world and its founder, Alain Chevassus, will work with us as a senior advisor.”

Big appointment in the packaging industry! Smurfit Kappa announced its new CEO for France, Andrew Coffey. With a master’s degree in economics from the University of Dublin and Harvard Business School, he began his career with the group in Ireland in 2000. Throughout his career, Andrew Coffey has held senior positions in France and Italy before being appointed Vice President of Operational Excellence in the Netherlands in 2019. He started at Smurfit Kappa France on November 1st, 2022.

Following Tageos, a Montpellier-based RFID producer acquired earlier this year, the Fedrigoni group (owned by Bain Capital) has just announced its second acquisition in France with the purchase of Zuber Rieder. Based in Boussières, near Besançon in Doubs, Franche-Comté, this paper mill produces label papers for the wine and spirits sectors. Zuber Rieder has 130 employees and sells 20,000 tons of paper, 5,000 tons of which are outsourced. A paper machine and several finishing equipments (embossing, coating, finishing) complete the production hardware. Fedrigoni has not disclosed the transaction price. However, with that kind of transaction it can be about 6 to 9 times Zuber Rieder ‘s Ebitda.  The French company has a yearly turnover of around 45 million Euros. At the press conference in Paris, Marco Nespolo, Fedrigoni’s CEO, was very enthusiastic. He said, “We have been working as a supplier with Zuber Rieder for years and we know each other well. We value their products and are sure that this integration in our group will offer them new opportunities. France is the land of wine and luxury. With this acquisition, we are expanding our offer to become the reference for premium labels.”

Allard Emballages, the French company acquired in early 2021 by the Spanish packaging group Hinojosa, led by Eric Bacourt, will integrate its logo and visual identity. It’s a brand unification operation. Hinojosa currently has over 2,400 workers in 20 factories in Spain, Portugal and France. Hinojosa has integrated the manufacturing of 100% recycled paper for its own use, which allows it to have a certain degree of autonomy in regard to the company’s supply. Last year, Hinojosa achieved a total turnover of 644 million euros. 

Paprec is on the front page of Fortunes Crown magazine! The recycling specialist is in the spotlight due to its ranking as one of the ‘best companies to watch in 2022.’ Jean-Luc Petithuguenin founded the Paprec group and has been managing it ever since. As the French leader in recycling, Paprec is now the French leader in energy recovery and waste treatment as well (methanisation, composting, management of non-hazardous waste storage facilities). In 25 years, it has grown from 45 to 12,500 employees in more than 280 locations in eight countries. The group manages 16 million tonnes of waste and reached 2.2 billion euros in sales in 2021.

The energy crisis continues to wreak havoc. This time it is the German toilet paper manufacturer Hakle which is suffering the consequences and is going bankrupt. In default of payment, Hakle filed under chapter 11 to rectify its situation. This type of procedure makes tongues wag because not only is it a very well known group in Germany, but it has also existed since 1928! The rise in energy and transportation prices are the root of the problem. The company justified going into reorganization bankruptcy by the fact that it has failed to negotiate the increase in costs with the distributors of its products (supermarket chains). Will there be a shortage in the sector? Stay tuned.

Mondi has agreed to acquire the Duino paper mill near Trieste (Italy) from the Italian paper manufacturer Burgo for a price of 40 million euros. The mill currently operates a coated mechanical paper machine. With an investment of €200 million, Mondi plans to convert this machine to produce 420,000 tonnes per year of high-quality recycled corrugated board. Last year, Mondi had a turnover of €7 billion and a profit, before interest, taxes, depreciation and underlying depreciation, of €1.2 billion. The group employs 21,000 people.

MM (where Peter Oswald is the CEO), has acquired Essentra Packaging for approximately 365 million euros. This acquisition allows MM Packaging, Europe’s leading producer of cartons and folding boxes with an attractive range of kraft paper and uncoated fine paper, to expand into the pharmaceutical secondary packaging sector. In addition, this acquisition extends MM’s presence in the US market with a significant position in the East Coast pharmaceutical hub. Essentra Packaging had a turnover of around 430 million euros in 2021. It has 21 production sites in 10 countries in Europe and North America.  This complements MM Packaging’s current position in Scandinavia thanks to the recently acquisition of Eson Pac and their existing business in France. Essentra Packaging has more than 800 worldwide customers, including 19 of the 20 largest pharmaceutical companies, and employs more than 3,500 people.

Great news for the DS Smith group - the year end in April showed that in terms of corrugated cardboard box volumes, they had a record growth of 5.4% . Volumes increased in all European markets over the previous year and were particularly strong in North America. The overall improvement resulted in a 21% jump in the group’s revenues, which amounted to almost $9 billion. Note that DS Smith is forecasting further growth in corrugated box volumes of 2% to 4% in F23, as well as an increase in capital expenditures. The group’s adjusted operating profit also posted a good performance, up +29%. In France, DS Smith is the #1 packaging company with 30 production sites and 4,000 employees. According to Thibault Laumonier, DS Smith Packaging France’s CEO, “DS Smith Packaging France contributed positively to the Group’s growth, with a strong sales growth of more than 5%, a result superior to the market. The major investments made at the Europac sites acquired in 2019 have been finalised to reach a high level of performance. We also continue to pursue our sustainability goals as outlined in our sustainable development strategy. Today and Tomorrow. With more than 35 million single-use plastic packaging substituted in 21/22, DS Smith’ss French sites have been able to offer their customers, especially those affected by the AGEC law, 100% recycled and recyclable solutions.”

German special paper producer Drewsen Spezialpapiere will stop producing paper for envelopes as of July 1st, 2022 as part of its plan to specialize in sustainable paper solutions and to expand the production of special technical papers. This news doesn’t come as a surprise as the family-owned Drewsen company has significantly reduced the production of envelope paper in recent years.

Specializing in special papers for publishing, graphic design and labels, Fedrigoni has a good balance sheet for the past year. Fedrigoni had a revenue of €1,602.9 million, up 21.9% from 2020. Their adjusted earnings before interest, taxes and depreciation (EBITDA) were €214.8 million, up 29% from 2020.  The icing on the cake is that there are two divisions which are working very well. Fedrigoni Self-Adadhesive/Labels (FSA) dedicated to label and self-adhesive materials  is up +20.7% and special papers for luxury packaging and other creative solutions is up +22.8%. In 2021, the Italian company acquired three companies: the American Acucote, the Mexican Rimark and 70% of a new joint venture company with Tecnoform. This type of business did not slow down in 2022 as they have already acquired the Spanish Divipa and Tageos.  Fedrigoni is on a roll with no intention of stopping anytime soon.

Atlas Packaging, based in Barnstaple, North Devon, is an independent supplier of corrugated board packaging. With a particularly strong presence in ready-to-use packaging, gift packaging and the e-commerce sector, Atlas Packaging has an extensive product portfolio. By acquiring the company Smurfit Kappa UK, a subsidiary of the Irish group Smurfit Kappa, is consolidating its United Kingdom presence.

Arauco reported a further delay in the completion and commissioning of its new pulp line in southern Chile. This project is part of the MAPA program. The company expects to begin testing operations at the new pulp mill in June. The new BEK pulp line will have a capacity of 1.56 million tpy.

The European Federation of Corrugated Board Manufacturers (FEFCO) announced the release of the 12th FEFCO code version. This code is the internationally applied system for the design of corrugated board packaging. The FEFCO developed it in the late 1960’s to replace complicated verbal exchanges around packaging design and to create a common basis to communicate with customers around the world. The code’s evolutions aim to keep up with developments in the corrugated board industry, the use of new technologies and market developments. More than 100 new designs are integrated, especially in the retail and e-commerce fields.

The war in Ukraine continues, but the gas market is stabilizing. This helps explains Norske Skog’s decision to resume operations at its Bruck site in Austria. The paper manufacturer stopped producing newsprint and magazine paper on March 9th due to operational difficulties caused by the significant energy price increases. The company also announced the upcoming opening of a new waste-to-energy facility at the Bruck plant. This should reduce the plant’s exposure to gas prices which is certainly a wise move these days.

Things are not getting any better between UPM and the paper workers trade union as they are still unable to reach an agreement. The strike will continue until at least May 14th. The label sector is particularly touched since one of the papermills on strike manufactures glassine backing. Without this, there is no adhesive label ! The president of UNFEA, which regroups French label manufacturers, is concerned and has sounded the alarm. It goes without saying, but if there are no labels then there will be no product placement on the shelves in the stores... As of this time, we have yet to hear about label shortages among bottlers, but that could change.  Stay tuned!

Since no agreement has been reached between UPM and the Finnish paper workers' union Paperiliitto, the strike at UPM’s Finnish pulp and paper mills is being extended for an additional two weeks. This means that the strike will continue until April 30th 2022. However, this new extension comes as the mediator has presented a proposal for a settlement between UPM Pulp and the union. The parties must react to the conciliator’s proposal by April 14th, 2022. The strike by the paper workers' union which began on January 1st, 2022 includes the following UMP businesses - the UPM Pulp, UPM Biofuels, UPM Communication Papers, UPM Specialty Papers and the UPM Raflatac units in Finland.

Organic growth and the integration of the French group Allard Emballages were key factors in Hinojosa’s 50% increase in turnover compared to 2020. The group ended 2021 with a turnover of 644 million euros. Increased demand for consumer goods, customer preference for sustainable packaging and the continued growth of e-commerce were the key factors this year. The acquisition of the French group Allard Emballages brought added 4 new factories and more than 400 employees to its portfolio. In addition, in 2021, the company reduced its carbon footprint by 40%. There was also the installation of the first solar photovoltaic power plant for self-consumption at its Cordoba factory as well as an installation of a biogas treatment system and a biomass boiler in its paper mill in Sarrià de Ter. Hinojosa was also the first Spanish company in the packaging and paper sectors to receive the “Zero Waste” certification in two of its mills: Hinojosa Paper Alquería and Hinojosa Packaging Xàtiva. The group has already announced that it wants to expand its de-carbonization and certification program to other plants. What does 2022 have in store? For one thing, it’s Hinojosa’s 75th anniversary which will be celebrated by continuing its commitment to sustainable excellence.

The Russian pulp and packaging material manufacturer, Ilim Group, commented on the US paper and packaging company International Paper (IP)’s announcement to possibly sell its share in the joint venture. The announcement came on the heels of the hundreds of companies who left Russia following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. As a reminder, the American company currently holds a 50% stake in Ilim. The Ilim Group claims to have all the operational and financial resources necessary to continue implementing the investment program in Ust-Ilimsk, where a new kraftliner mill with a capacity of 600,000 tpy is being built.  The total investment amount is $1.3 billion. The start up of the new kraftliner paper machine is scheduled for the end of this year. According to the latest figures, Ilim Group generated an operating EBITA of $1.1 billion in its last fiscal year. The group produced 3.6 million tonnes of pulp and paper, including 2.2 million tonnes of pulp and 815,000 tonnes of paper for packaging. The Ilim Group intends to increase its total export volume to China to 2.4 million tonnes by 2025.

The Mondi Group is investing €280 million in corrugated board packaging operations in four countries to boost production and serve customers more efficiently. This includes around €185 million in its network of factories in Central and Eastern Europe and €95 million in the Mondi ?wiecie corrugated board factory in Poland. It should be noted that European demand for corrugated board packaging is expected to increase by 2-4% per year in the medium term. To meet this growing demand, Mondi is investing in its ability to supply the growing markets for consumer, e-commerce and industrial products from resource-efficient factories and equipment. This program includes the upgrading of the Mondi ?wiecie corrugated board mill, including a complete reconstruction of the PM2 and PM5 paper machines. The company will also upgrade the pulp making, the recycled fibre chain and the energy recovery system. In Poland, Mondi will also increase its Warsaw plant’s capacity by adding machinery and automation.

Like all industries, the paper industry, which is already experiencing supply difficulties and shortages, is feeling the brunt of the Ukraine conflict. Bernard Lombard, Trade & Industrial Policy Director of Cepi (pictured here), gave Pap'Argus an overview of the situation in Europe, which was published in the French version of Pap’Argus last month, along with an analysis from Paul-Antoine Lacour, Copacel’s General Delegate, specifically tailored to the French market. Finland (20%), Germany (15%) and Poland (13%) account for about half of the EU‘s  paper and board exports to Ukraine, with around 212,000 tonnes of products. They are closely followed by Hungary (10%), Austria (9%) and Sweden (8%). Germany and Sweden account for 55% of EU pulp exports to Ukraine. Finland is by far the largest paper and board exporter to Russia, contributing 54% of all EU exports to Russia. Germany (16%), Poland (6%) and Sweden (6%) also export paper and paperboard to Russia, but at much lower volumes. As for pulp, almost 70% of EU exports to Russia come from Finland (45%) and Sweden (25%). To date, the EU-Ukraine trade in pulp and paper is almost one-way, with approximately 440,000 tonnes of paper and paperboard imported from the EU. Ukraine’s exports are very limited. Belarus is similar, importing even less volumes, 60,000 tonnes of paper and board from the EU. As far as Russia is concerned, that is another story. About 900,000 tonnes of paper and board are imported by Russia from the EU, while Russia exports nearly 700,000 tonnes to the EU. Italy (23%), Germany (19%) and Poland (8%) account for 50% of Russian exports to the EU. About two-thirds are packing grades, with boxes accounting for 43% of all exports. As far as pulp is concerned, EU-Russia trade is fairly balanced with around 400,000 tonnes traded in total.

Finally, there is good news on the horizon!  The UPM Pulp and the paper workers' union seems to have reached an agreement. Mediator Leo Suomaa announced that he had submitted a settlement proposal to the various parties. They need to make their position on the proposal known beforel April 14th, 2022 at 10.00 am deadline. In the meantime, the mediator is still continuing to work with the union and the other UPM companies. "I am pleased that the negotiations have reached a point where the mediator feels that a settlement proposal can be proposed. I am hopeful that the deal will be concluded.  I hope we can start the machines as soon as possible,' said Juha Kääriäinen, Vice-President, Finland Pulp Operations at UPM Pulp, and chief negotiator for UPM Pulp. Fingers are crossed that this agreement will bring an end to one of the longest labour disputes in the Finnish paper industry.

High energy costs and the limited supply of transmission capacity have forced Leipa to increase prices and temporarily stop production. Despite prudent and forward-looking energy management, the German Leipa Group is feeling the effects of escalating energy prices and freight and transport capacity issues.  As a result the company has decided to focus on maintaining their supply, which makes price increases unavoidable. For deliveries as of April 1st, the company will increase the price of carton board by 130 €/t. In addition, the company decided to stop the uncoated white liner paper machine the week of April 18th in order to counter speculative energy purchases on the futures market.

The industry is stressed.  Intergraf, the European printing industry association based in Brussels  stated  price increases of more than 45% in six months (and up to 80% for newsprint).  This has contributed to a lot of uncertainty about the continuous supply of wood fibres in the European sectors. Hence Intergraf’s call for three steps: an immediate halt or a significant reduction in pulp and paper exports to other countries in order to preserve the autonomy of the European printing and publishing industries; that the two parties involved in the ongoing strike at the UPM paper mills find a solution guaranteeing the availability of the necessary paper and board in the European market; and in the longer term, ensuring European autonomy in the supply of wood, pulp and paper for all economic sectors, ensuring an adequate supply of raw materials and production capacity in Europe.

The war in Ukraine continues to have repercussions in the industry. After Mondi, it is Stora Enso’s turn to make announcements. The paper maker stops all production and sale in Russia until further notice. To date, Stora Enso has three corrugated board packing plants and two wood product sawmills in Russia. It should be noted that Stora Enso also stops all exports and imports to and from Russia. A mitigation plan has been activated to ensure the availability of input materials from other sources. Stora Enso’s sales in Russia represent about 3% of the group’s total revenues, which states that the impact on its sales and EBIT is not significant. Stora Enso has approximately 22,000 employees and its sales in 2021 were €10.2 billion

Every day comes its share of announcements concerning the reaction of the sector to the Ukrainian conflict. After Mondi and Stora Enso, Finland’s Kemira, leader in paper pulp and paper process chemistry and chemical solutions, is to interrupt deliveries to Russia and Belarus until further notice. The decision has been in effect since March 1, 2022. This decision will mainly affect pulp and paper customers in Russia. In 2021, Russia accounted for about 3% of Kemira’s total turnover

More and more companies in the paper industry are reacting to the war in Ukraine. It is UPM’s turn to announce a halt in deliveries to Russia. UPM Raflatac has a distribution terminal in the Kiev region with 13 employees. The terminal’s operations have been closed until further notice. However, operations at its Russian sites continue. Most of UPM’s employees work at the plywood factory in Chudovo, where operations are maintained. UPM buys less than 10% of its wood supply in Russia. UPM sales to Russia and Ukraine combined account for approximately 2% of total UPM sales in 2021. Assets in Russia represent less than 1% of the total group. In 2021, less than 10% of UPM’s wood supply in Finland came from Russia.

Swedish paper manufacturer SCA is investing SEK 90 million in the Östrand pulp mill. The investment will result not only in cost savings but will also increase the mill’s production capacity. The investment will also improve the local environment by reducing the risk of odors. In particular, a new incinerator is planned to burn the strong gases and the excess methanol. Another major advantage of the incinerator is that it will be able to convert the surplus of certain chemicals in the mill into another type of chemical that the plant currently procures for the production of CTMP pulp. SCA, founded in 1929, owns 2.6 million hectares of forested land in northern Sweden.

Blue Paper plans to implement a one-week maintenance outage at its packaging board factory in Strasbourg, France. Specifically, the site’s PM 1, which has a capacity of 440,000 ton a year of recycled corrugated cardboard (for 70 and 135 g/m²) will be stopped the first week of March. Gentle reminder that Blue Paper is a joint venture between the two packaging companies, VPK Group in Belgium and Klingele in Germany. This production site, based in Strasbourg’s Rhine port, specializes in manufacturing corrugated paper (CCM) based on 100% recovered paper and board. In 2013 The VPK Packaging and Klingele Papierwerke groups invested €100 million to convert the mill  (built in 1990) to  produce packaging paper.

As of March 1st, 2022, Gilles Van Nieuwenhuyzen is the Lecta Group’s new CEO. He has also been named Director of Lecta, taking over from Eduardo Querol. Gilles Van. Nieuwenhuyzen has extensive and diverse experience in different industries such as chemistry, packaging, food ingredients and paper and board. In his last position as Executive Vice President and Head of Packaging Solutions Division at Stora Enso, he was responsible for Packaging Cartons, Corrugated board and Consumer Packaging Products. He has also held several positions as an independent advisor and transition manager. Mr. Van Nieuwenhuyzen is a Dutch national who graduated from the Delft University of Technology (MSc) and Insead (MBA).

The Finnish group Ahlstrom-Munksjö has successfully completed the acquisition of a 60% stake in the Chinese producer of decorative paper company, Minglian New Materials Technology, in a joint venture. This includes a state-of-the-art factory in Xingtai City, Hebei Province, China. By combining Minglian with its existing decoration business, Ahlstrom-Munksjö has created a world leader in decoration papers with improved cost competitiveness and a strong presence in Europe, America and Asia. The business combination allows Ahlstrom-Munksjö to take advantage of its brand and capacities in the large and growing high-end decoration paper market in China. For the record, Minglian New Materials was created in 2016 by a group of entrepreneurs trained in the Chinese decoration industry. The company is located in the Nanyang Economic Development Zone in Xingtai. Its annual production capacity is approximately 50,000 tonnes.