After a slight uptick in the second quarter, activity started slowing again as of July on the British market for corrugated case material and corrugated products.
Business is now totally flat, said most of the players surveyed by EUWID in mid-July. "The seasonal developments have been distorted this year by the crisis,” explained one expert. When the market would typically be expected to pick up, the upswing is subdued, arrives late and ends quickly, he explained. On the other hand, the seasonal lows are more pronounced than usual.
The overall market is still lagging the prior-year levels by around 10 per cent, and depending on the end market, the declines can also be significantly larger, EUWID was told. This is particularly true for the e-commerce sector, where the contraction is significantly heftier than the abovementioned 10 per cent, in part because this segment saw tremendous growth rates in the UK in 2021 and 2022.
⇒ This is an excerpt from the complete British paper and board market to be published in EUWID Packaging Markets 16/2023.
