Germany: Declining sales and prices cause difficulties for decor paper manufacturers
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Continued weak demand and the ongoing price decline are presenting European decor paper manufacturers with ever greater challenges. After a weak September, October 2023 did not bring any improvement either.
Incoming orders remain at a relatively low level, and the recovery in the fall that some companies thought was possible in late summer failed to materialize. As a result, production capacity utilization has not improved either.
Most paper machines are shut down at regular intervals. On average, the machines are shut down for around one week a month, and in some cases there are even longer shutdowns. The regular start-ups and shutdowns lead to further capacity losses. The negative effects of the continuing unsatisfactory volume trend are exacerbated by the ongoing price pressure.
