Mondi announced a EUR 280 million investment in its Corrugated Packaging operations across four countries to boost production and to serve customers more efficiently.
The investment includes around EUR 185 million across its central and eastern European Corrugated Solutions plant network and EUR 95 million at Mondi Swiecie's containerboard mill in Poland.
Mondi pointed out that these investments together represent an important part of the company's announced EUR 1 billion in expansionary capital investment projects this year to accelerate growth in sustainable packaging.
According to Mondi, European demand for corrugated packaging is expected to grow by 2 - 4% per year in the medium term as customers increasingly insist on more sustainable packaging solutions. To meet this growing demand, Mondi is investing in its ability to supply the growing FMCG, eCommerce, and industrial markets from resource-efficient plants and equipment.
Some highlights of the investment program:
• The upgrade of Mondi Swiecie's containerboard mill includes an extensive rebuild of paper machines PM2 and PM5, a new anaerobic treatment plant including an integrated cooling system, and upgrades to the pulp mill, the recycled fibre line and the energy recovery system.
• The plant at Mondi Warsaw more than doubling in size and capacity, and receiving new machinery and automation, including a corrugator of 3.35 meters in width.
• Expanded corrugated solutions production for the eCommerce market, with modernisation and improvements across eight sites located in Poland (Simet, Swiecie, Warsaw, Dorohusk, Szczecin, Bystrzyca), Germany (Eschenbach), and the Czech Republic (Bupak), as well as a comprehensive upgrade of Mondi Simet to erect a warehouse for finished goods storage and to automate internal material flows.
• Investments in operations in Turkey focused on the newly-acquired Mondi Olmuksan plants, with Gebze specialising in eCommerce packaging production, and Bursa reinforcing its heavy-duty output with the addition of sheet production. Most of all, the Izmir site will be transformed by a comprehensive modernisation and expansion programme, enabling a leap in output and efficiency, plus further refinement in quality assurance for customers. Mondi Tire Kutsan Karaman will also get a new high-quality printing casemaker.
The expansion and upgrade of Mondi's Kuopio semi-chemical fluting mill also remains on track. The EUR 125 million capital investment project announced last year will increase the facility's capacity by around 55,000 tonnes per year to meet growing customer demand, enhance product quality and cost-competitiveness, and strengthen the mill's environmental performance. The project includes an upgrade of the wood yard, fibre line, evaporation plant and paper machine, with start-up planned for the fourth quarter of 2023.
TAPPI
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