Sales of corrugated board rose by 2.9 per cent in the first half of 2018 compared to the same period last year. The German Association of the Corrugated Board Industry (VDW) reported on this business development among its members in August.
In absolute figures, the increase in sales corresponds to a volume of 81.3 million square metres of corrugated board. This means that a total of four billion square metres of corrugated board have been sold.
The VDW points out that the second quarter of 2018 delivered weaker results than the first. 37.7 million square metres of corrugated board were sold from April to June, which corresponds to an increase of 0.2 per cent compared to the second quarter of 2017. „In addition to the Dampening of the general economic situation This development primarily reflects a very strong second quarter of 2017, which is responsible for this base effect as a comparative period,“ explains Dr Oliver Wolfrum, Executive Director of the VDW.
The association is concerned about the Tense cost situation. There are complaints about the sharp rise in prices for Corrugated base paper. „Despite increases in their selling prices, our members have not been able to free themselves sufficiently from the cost pressure that has been building up since 2017,“ says Wolfrum. Back in April, the VDW had already pointed out that corrugated board producing companies had Price mark-ups of up to 27 per cent had to accept. In contrast, the price of a square metre of corrugated board only rose from 52.6 cents in January to 53.8 cents in December.
