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Summary of our market study
French consumption of paper and cardboard is estimated at between 8 and 9 million tonnes
The global paper market, valued at over $837 billion in 2020, is expected to exceed $1,000 billion in 2024, with Asia-Pacific accounting for 35% of market share in 2020, ahead of North America.
Despite a 7% drop in sales due to the health crisis in 2020, the French paper industry has recovered in 2021.
France has always had a negative trade balance for paper.
French paper and cardboard consumption fell sharply in 2020, the majority being used for packaging (56.9%). The health crisis led to higher prices for paper imports and longer delivery times.
the industry's main players are International Paper, Smurfit Kappa, DS Smith and Saica.
The paper market in France
The market underwent a major shift in the 1990s due to environmental concerns, and has adapted, in particular with the growing switch to recycled paper as a substitute for plastic packaging. Recycled paper is an important raw material for paper manufacture. Packaging is the main user of recycled paper.
The paper and cardboard industry is highly concentrated.
Paper consumption in France has been declining in recent years, and this trend will continue in 2019 and 2020. The sales index for retail sales of newspapers and stationery in specialist stores is down significantly.
Consumption is mainly divided between graphic papers, packaging, hygiene papers and industrial and special papers.
Packaging accounts for around 55-60% of total paper consumption. Corrugated board accounts for around 65-70% of packaging.
The manufacture of paper and cardboard, corrugated board and paper products for sanitary and domestic use accounts for over 70% of the industry's total sales.
Players in the paper and board market
- International Paper is an undisputed leader in the paper and board sector, dominating the market thanks to its wide range of products.
- Smurfit Kappa is a giant particularly skilled in offering innovative packaging solutions.
- DS Smith is a key figure, particularly for its expertise in paper and corrugated board, which plays an important role in the packaging industry.
- Essity and Kimberly-Clark, dedicated to the production of a range of hygiene-related paper products.
- Exacompta-Clairefontaine offers a multitude of stationery products ranging from traditional paper needs to modern office products.
- Norske Skog specializes in newsprint.
- Saica, a major international paper group of Spanish origin.
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Summary and extracts
1 Market overview
1.1 Definition and scope of the study
The paper market includes all the players involved in each stage of the transformation of raw materials (mainly wood, but also natural fibers) into paper pulp, cardboard and paper. Introduced in the West as early as the 12th century, paper has revolutionized graphic media, but has also become indispensable in everyone's daily life.
The 1990s marked an important turning point for the paper market: government and individual ecological considerations forced this polluting and energy-intensive industry to adapt. Increasing the production of recycled paper, developing innovative tools and reducing pollution and energy consumption required a lot of financial investments. However, ecological considerations pushing to limit or even ban the use of plastic, particularly in packaging and supermarket bags, are encouraging the growth of the paper market, which is partially replacing certain plastic packaging (hence the rise of recycled paper). At the same time, the research and development of derived and innovative materials has gained an important share of the paper market.
Cardboard, packaging, paper products and its multiple derivatives or recycled material products are all specializations that fragment this market. In France, the paper and cardboard industry is showing a growth trend from 2012 to 2021, despite profound changes in the country's production fabric with a progressive concentration of French producers. However, some business segments have suffered from the health crisis, with the turnover index for the retail trade of newspapers and stationery in specialized stores still not having recovered its 2019 level, impacting upstream suppliers.
More structurally, the decline in production recorded is mostly due to the decline in newspaper print runs, we note conversely that the production of packaging paper and cardboard has been improving since 2016.
The stationery manufacturing sector, linked to the paper market, has been in crisis for many years. It has undergone a profound change: there are ten times fewer big players in the stationery industry than there were twenty years ago and many small companies have filed for bankruptcy.
List of charts presented in this market study
- World paper market
- Turnover of the retail trade of newspapers and stationery in specialized stores
- Turnover of the paper and cardboard industry
- French consumption of paper and cardboard
- Breakdown of French paper and cardboard consumption
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Latest news
7 billion merger in paper and packaging - 17/04/2024
- Agreement for the purchase of DS Smith by International Paper: $7.2 billion.
- - Percentage of the new entity held by DS Smith shareholders: approximately one third.
- - DS Smith workforce: over 30,000 employees in 30 countries.
- - DS Smith sales last year: around $10.2 billion.
- - International Paper workforce: 39,000 employees in ten countries.
- - International Paper sales last year: $18.9 billion.
- - Estimated global pulp and paper market in 2022: $354 billion.
Another international buyout for Antalis - 06/02/2024
- - Antalis recently completed two acquisitions, including Pakella and Tecnoprimaf.
- - Tecnoprimaf is an Italian company specializing in wooden transport packaging.
- - The company is based in Castelfranco Emilia, near Modena, and has 80 employees.
- - Tecnoprimaf's sales are expected to reach 26 million euros in 2023.
- - Tecnoprimaf has five production sites.
- - Tecnoprimaf's main markets are production equipment and ceramics.
- - With this acquisition, Antalis is now the leader in custom packaging solutions in Italy.
Smurfit WestRock merger on track - 09/12/2023
- Merger of Smurfit Kappa and WestRock (two cardboard manufacturers) announced on September 12.
- Cost of operation for Smurfit Kappa: 11 billion dollars.
- Valuation of the new Smurfit WestRock entity: close to $20 billion.
- Sales of the new entity based on twelve-month results to June 30: $34 billion.
- The new entity is the world leader in corrugated board and packaging.
- Smurfit Kappa shareholders will hold 50.4% of the capital, while WestRock shareholders will hold 49.6%.
- Smurfit WestRock will operate in 42 countries.
- The new entity will have 500 cardboard mills and 67 paper mills. It will employ 98,000 people.
Hygiene: Essity invests in Eure to improve recycling of food cartons - 22/11/2023
- The Hondouville plant in the Eure region of France produces toilet paper, handkerchiefs and paper towels for professional markets (hotels, restaurants, businesses, industry, etc.), marketed under the Tork brand.
- To manufacture these products, the company has been recycling food bricks for over fifteen years
- In each food carton, paper fibers (75%) are mixed with aluminum (5%), plastic (14%) and cork (6%).
- The Stockholm-based international group, whose products are marketed in some 150 countries, has sales of 15 billion euros by 2022 and 48,000 employees worldwide.
- In France, the Group's fourth-largest market, it operates eight sites with 2,500 employees.
- Its Eure plant also manufactures cotton personal care products under the Demak'Up and Lotus brands.
- Over the past three years, investments at the Normandy site have totalled 47 million euros, reassuring the plant's 360 employees
Essity claims "world first" in recycling - 21/10/2023
- A new recycling line for liquid-food packaging was inaugurated on October 17.
- Essity's sales target is 15 billion euros by 2022.
- Essity employs around 48,000 people in 150 countries.
- In France, Essity employs 2,500 people and has six production sites and a research and development center.
- France is the Swedish group's fourth-largest market.
- The Hondouville plant employs 360 people.
Antalis always greener | Greener with Antalis - 11/10/2023
- Antalis belongs to the Japanese group Kokusai Pulp & Paper (KPP). KPP is a leading distributor of paper, packaging and communication products.
- The group is present in 29 countries.
- It generates sales of 563 billion yen, or around 3.578 billion euros.
- Antalis is the leading BtoB distributor of paper and industrial packaging.
- Antalis is also number two in the distribution of visual communication media.
- Antalis employs 3,800 people.
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