The project at the Ostroleka plant, which is due to be completed in the first quarter of 2013, will see the mill's annual capacity climb from 270,000 to 455,000 tonnes. In conjunction with the start-up, Stora Enso plans to shut down the 85,000 tonnes p/a containerboard machine PM 2 at the site.
The new capacity will dramatically increase its containerboard self-sufficiency, bring supply closer to customers and cut costs, a Stora Enso spokesman told FoodProductionDaily.com.
CEE platform
Some 66 per cent of the output will be used by the company to supply its own customers, with the remainder to be sold into the Polish market, he added.
The food packaging and consumer electronic goods markets would be the two main users of the material, with the company estimating the new facility will enable it to capture a 20 per cent of the 1.5m tonne Polish containerboard market.
The development could also be used as a springboard to push market share in the other large CEE containerboard market in Russia, said the spokesman.
“Strengthening our competitive position in corrugated packaging in the growing markets of Central and Eastern Europe is at the core of our growth strategy. The investment at Ostrołęka is another concrete step in building sustainable and profitable growth for the Group,” added Stora Enso CEO Jouko Karvinen.
Containerboard self-sufficiency and sustainability
The installation of the new machine will produce lightweighted containerboard made from recycled fibre and improve its cost base as it will provide an efficient internal supply of the material, said the company.
“Customer demand for modern light-weight corrugated packaging is increasing rapidly,” said packaging executive vice-president Mats Nordlander. “Recycled fibre is the dominant raw material for corrugated packaging and continues to win share from virgin fibres. The markets for transport packaging in Central and Eastern Europe have grown and will continue to grow by over 5 per cent per year.”
He added that the investment would support Stora Enso’s growth and increase its self-sufficiency in containerboards from 35 per cent to 60 per cent, as well as improving the cost competitiveness of the firms industrial packaging segment.
The spokesman said this was important given the ongoing tightness of the European market in recycled paper.
The company’s twenty corrugated packaging plants in Finland, Sweden, Russia, Poland, Hungary and the Baltic States, with total capacity 1.3 billion m2 of corrugating packaging, used some 560 000 tonnes of containerboard in 2010.