LEIPA Plans Containerboard Production Expansion

 

Based on a successful preliminary assessment, the LEIPA Group, Germany, plans to invest in a significant expansion of containerboard production capacities. The company's headquarters in Schwedt are being examined as the location for the expansion. A possible start of operations is planned for as early as the 2016 financial year.

"Investing in a further containerboard machine is one of the possible options for further expanding the market position we already have in the field of packaging paper. LEIPA has been extremely successful with the global marketing strategy for its products, meaning we now have the necessary foundations to invest in additional production capacities," says Peter Probst, managing director LEIPA Holding.

The LEIPA Group is ready to invest an amount in the three-digit million range for its corporate development. The target capacity of the planned machine is approximately 290,000 metric tpy. The envisaged production program covers corrugating medium and testliner--white and/or brown—in the substance range of 80 to 140 gsm. Such a machine would complement existing production opportunities in Schwedt, where 120 to 200 gsm of coated and uncoated white top testliners are currently produced.

The LEIPA Group currently produces approximately 900,000 metric tons of graphic paper and packaging paper per year at its Schwedt and Schrobenhausen locations. In MAD and LEIPA Logistik, the Group has a recycling specialist and a logistics service provider, respectively.

Today, MAD already supplies LEIPA with a large volume of wastepaper. It does so primarily via its own locations as well as purchasing centers and collection points in the East German states and neighboring (Eastern European) countries. The necessary investment security for a project of this volume comes only from the additional quantities, generable from this network, of the ever scarcer woodfree grades of waste paper, the company noted.