German paper industry with slump in sales in 2023

The German pulp and paper industry, with its approximately 46,000 employees, suffered a significant decline in production and sales last year. The race to catch up in the post-Corona years has come to an end. The key figures for the industry are worse than they have been for a long time.

According to the association DIE PAPIERINDUSTRIE, production fell by around 14 percent to 18.6 million tons in 2023. It thus fell to its lowest level in the past 20 years. Sales fell by 13 percent to 18.8 million tons. Industry sales fell by 27 percent to 15.5 billion euros. The disproportionate reduction in turnover is also an indication of sensitive price reductions at the expense of the profitability of the companies. For the future, the industry expects new impulses from innovative packaging solutions made of paper, among other things, which form a sustainable alternative to fossil-based plastics.

Especially for graphic papers, the decline in sales in 2023 was 29 percent dramatically and significantly more strongly than in the European reference markets. Packaging paper and board also had to contend with a clear decline in sales (minus 7 percent). The development was somewhat less serious in the smaller main grade groups of hygiene papers and specialty papers, with sales shrinking by 6 percent each. The President of DIE PAPIERINDUSTRIE, Hans-Christoph Gallenkamp, CEO of the specialty paper manufacturer Felix Schoeller from Osnabrück, makes it clear: "Paper and cardboard are indicators of economic development. The declines in the two major areas of printing and packaging clearly show the current economic weakness and the difficult market conditions in Germany. Our competitiveness is suffering from the sharp increase in energy costs. We are now feeling the consequences of the hasty energy transformation and the Russian war of aggression on Ukraine on a massive scale. In addition, there is the continuing trend towards digitization, which is leaving its mark on print products in particular. Plant closures and machine shutdowns are the sad consequence."

The slump of last year and the weak start in 2024 is taking its toll on many companies, especially since volume development was already declining in 2022. High energy, raw material and transport costs as well as increasing planning uncertainty due to short-term political changes of course will continue to weigh on the industry in the current year. This weighs heavily, as the paper industry plays an important role in an industrial circular economy based on renewable raw materials.

The association therefore urgently calls on politicians to simplify the bureaucratic and regulatory requirements, to steer the energy transition back on track and thus support the transformation of companies.

(Source: Association of the German Paper Industry)