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Arctic Paper S.A. announces that from September 1, 2023, the company's shares will be traded on Warsaw Stock Exchange mWIG40 index. mWIG40 index is successor of MIDWIG index and has been calculated since December 31, 1997 and comprises 40 medium size companies listed at WSE Main List. mWIG40 is a price index and thus when it is calculated it accounts only for prices of underlying shares whereas dividend income is excluded.
Highly dependent on the economic context, the European pulp and paper sector has experienced a slowdown in 2022, particularly in the last quarters of the year. A declining trade balance may point to a decrease in global competitiveness, amid a period of regulatory uncertainty for Europe’s industry overall, and paper and board packaging producers especially.
Stora Enso is planning restructuring actions to strengthen the Group’s long-term competitiveness, improve profitability and focus capital allocation in strategic growth markets. Stora Enso is also taking the next step in driving a decentralised operating model targeting increased customer centricity, business focus and cost reductions. The planned restructuring actions, combined with previously initiated negotiations in the Packaging Materials division, would result in total reductions of approximately 1,150 employees.
Stora Enso has completed the negotiations concerning the consolidation of its book paper production and the permanent closure of one of the two paper machines at the Anjalankoski site in Finland. The closure will take place during the fourth quarter of 2023.
In April 2023, Stora Enso announced a plan to permanently close one of the two paper machines and concentrate all book paper production to one line at the integrated Anjalankoski site due to the prevailing weak paper demand and high input costs.
Since 2005, the CO2 emissions of the pulp and paper sector have been reduced by 36% and by substituting fossil-based products, the European forest-based industries lower the EU’s total emissions by an estimated 410 Mt CO2 per year. The equivalent of taking 85 million cars – or the entire fleet of vehicles registered in Germany and Italy – off the road. The 4th edition of REINVEST2050 offers a glimpse of how that is done, through a collection of testimonies from the movers and shakers in pulp and paper.
At Interpack 2023, Mitsubishi HiTec Paper will be presenting its full range of barricote® barrier papers for flexible food and non-food packaging, as well as the new PACK 75, a heat-sealable paper for primary and secondary packaging.
Stora Enso has completed the divestment of its paper production site in Hylte, Sweden announced on 27 January 2023, and all related assets to Sweden Timber, a Sweden-based sawmill and planing mill company. The enterprise value of the transaction is approximately EUR 18 million and will result in the reduction of Stora Enso’s annual newsprint paper capacity by 245,000 tonnes. Using 2022 figures as a benchmark, the divestment is expected to reduce Stora Enso’s annual sales by approximately EUR 160 million.
UPM plans to adapt its uncoated publication paper capacity to a long-term profitable customer demand. The capacity reductions are planned to take place in Germany and Austria:
Preliminary statistics for 2022 released by Cepi, the Confederation of European Paper Industries, show the impact of high energy prices and of an eroding EU and global economic growth. The sector can however capitalise on positive long-term trends, which the EU Green Deal Industrial Plan could accelerate.
There is an increasing interest in paper and paper products made out of non-wood fibre, sourced from the agricultural and textile sectors. A study commissioned by Cepi to the nova-Institute, a German private research body, and carried on 33 producers of non-wood pulp, concludes that the material streams hold potential to contribute to the sustainable growth of the pulp and paper sector.
