Balance 2020: Paper industry has delivered reliably even in the crisis
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The paper industry has reliably supplied important products such as packaging and sanitary papers even during the Corona crisis. "The industry has once again shown that it is indispensable during the pandemic," explained the President of the Association of German Paper Mills, Winfried Schaur, at the presentation of the annual balance sheet.
The decline in production in the paper industry was therefore only 3.3 per cent in 2020. The industry was thus significantly better than German industry as a whole, whose production fell by more than 10 per cent according to the Federal Statistical Office. A total of 21.4 million tonnes of paper, cardboard and paperboard were produced in 2020. The turnover of the industry as a whole fell by 11.6 percent to 12.7 billion euros.
The production of packaging paper - the largest group of grades in Germany - increased by 2.6 percent to 12.4 million tonnes in the crisis year 2020. The reason for the positive development was the increased demand for packaging for food and online trade during the Corona pandemic. Sanitary papers also recorded a production growth of 2 per cent. The hoarding of toilet paper had presented manufacturers with special challenges in production and logistics. In 2020, a total of 1.5 million tonnes of tissue papers were produced, about half of which was toilet paper.
The production of graphic papers declined significantly in 2020. Here, production fell by 15.1 per cent to 6 million tonnes. "On the one hand, the Corona pandemic has further accelerated the trend towards digitalisation; on the other hand, there were one-off effects caused by the lockdown, especially in the second quarter of 2020, e.g. in the postponement of advertising measures and the closure of sales outlets. This affects the entire print value chain," explained VDP President Schaur. Almost unchanged at -0.2 per cent was the production of papers and boards for technical and special uses. This includes, for example, decorative papers for the furniture industry. Here production was about 1.4 million tonnes.
According to VDP President Schaur, the paper industry has further potential for the future. It is part of the bio-economy. Numerous innovative products - such as flexible packaging - offer sustainable alternatives to plastic. These are increasingly gaining acceptance in the trade and are also becoming visible to consumers. In addition, the paper industry continues to be a model of a functioning circular economy. The German paper industry's recovered paper use rate grew from 78 to 79 per cent in 2020.
