In 2019, Cepi members produced close to 90 million tonnes of paper and board, of which 54.6% were based on recycled fibres – compared to 53.1% in 2018 – as indicated by the utilisation rate of Paper for Recycling (PfR).
This performance goes hand in hand with a 72% paper recycling rate after 71.7% the previous year, reinforcing the sector’s commitment to sustainable and circular business practices.
More than ever, paper for recycling is a major source of fibres while the share of domestic wood used by the pulp and paper industry reached 84.2% in 2019 (84.1% in 2018), demonstrating that we are truly “Made in Europe” from European raw materials.
Speciality paper and board production was stable in 2019, showing robust positioning on end-markets. Over the first five months of 2020, due to the COVID-19 impact, paper and board production declined but to more favourable rate (-4.5 %,) than what most other manufacturing industries experienced (on average -20.4%), showing that the Covid-19 impact on pulp and paper industry was less pronounced than in other manufacturing sectors due to intrinsic resilience of our sector.
Paper and board consumption declined in 2019 following the slowing down of the EU’s economy. However domestic demand for hygiene papers (tissue, toilet paper, etc.) remained relatively high in the first months of 2020, and packaging has been benefiting from e-commerce growth.
The COVID-19 crisis has also accelerated an underlying change in consumption patterns related to the increase in teleworking and digitalisation which could have a long-lasting impact in the retail structures and production patterns. It could also open new opportunities for packaging. Similarly, production patterns are likely to change after the crisis exposed the lack of resilience of the EU economy; repatriation of industry, such as pharmaceuticals, in Europe is positive also for pulp and paper industry.
In 2020, paper and board markets will likely be impacted by the anticipated decline of the European GDP in 2020 both in the EU and the euro area by -8.3% and -8.7% respectively as a result of the Covid-19 crisis. However, in 2021, the EU economy is expected to grow by 5.8% and the euro area economy will grow by 6.1% bringing a positive outlook for paper and board markets as well, knowing that they will rebound.
