Extremely high energy prices are forcing Metsä Tissue, a part of Finnish Metsä group, to temporarily stop production.
The sanitary paper producer announced day-long temporary production stops in the week commencing 11 July at its sites in Kreuzau, Germany and Zilina, Slovakia. The company is reportedly reviewing profitability on a daily basis and high energy prices could call for further temporary production downtimes in response.
The tissue business was very energy-intensive and extremely high energy prices are making the situation critical, the company explained. The great volatility in the current business environment and the recent extreme developments in cost inflation had resulted in these temporary stoppages, it added.
"We are diligently taking all actions possible to deliver hygiene necessities to Western and Eastern European markets and we are evaluating the situation on a daily basis. However, there is a risk that out-of-stock situations will occur if these extreme cost conditions prevail," said Tobias Lüning, SVP, Central Europe, Metsä Tissue.
The tissue production and converting plant in Kreuzau with 400 employees is Metsä Tissue’s biggest site in Germany. It has four tissue machines with a combined capacity of 150,000 tpy, nine converting lines and two deinking plants.
The Slovakian plant in Zilina employs a staff of 320 and produces 80,000 tpy of tissue paper. The plant has two tissue machines, six converting lies and one deinking plant.
