European containerboard market ‘at risk of oversupply’

Europe – Sixty-one containerboard machines across Western and Central Europe ‘face above-average risk of closure’ against a backdrop of potential market oversupply, warns a study from leading sector analyst RISI.

The research covered 216 containerboard-producing machines at 164 mills in 27 different European countries, evaluating each facility and operating company according to a range of factors from technical age and productivity of machines to raw material and energy supply strategies.

The European containerboard market is ‘at risk of oversupply’, claims the study’s lead author Ville Henttonen, RISI’s senior product manager for mill intelligence.

‘While some of these machines are at risk of being closed, others could instead be sold, as part of a possible shakeout in this fragmented industry,’ he adds.