Germany: Declining sales and prices cause difficulties for decor paper manufacturers

Incoming orders remain at a relatively low level, and the recovery in the fall that some companies thought was possible in late summer failed to materialize. As a result, production capacity utilization has not improved either.

Most paper machines are shut down at regular intervals. On average, the machines are shut down for around one week a month, and in some cases there are even longer shutdowns. The regular start-ups and shutdowns lead to further capacity losses. The negative effects of the continuing unsatisfactory volume trend are exacerbated by the ongoing price pressure.