"We’ve never experienced anything like this,” businesses active on the German cartonboard and folding box market said last year when prices, lead times and capacity utilisation soared.
But the same comments are now applying to the first half of 2023, as well, albeit in the exact opposite direction. Cartonboard producers and converters are feeling the effects of subdued demand, which some described to EUWID as "disastrous” and which was caused by lacklustre consumer spending.
White-lined chipboard and folding boxboard manufacturers and converters alike reported that output was lower than expected again in August. EUWID research in August found that operating levels had reached a new rock bottom this year, given traditionally lower demand in the holiday month.
⇒ This is an excerpt from the complete paper and board market Germany to be published in EUWID Packaging Markets 18/2023.
