Weak demand and high stocks at converters resulted in price cuts for envelope an shipping bag papers in Germany in the first quarter.
Envelope and shipping bag paper companies doing business in Germany did not experience any improvement in their order books during the first quarter of 2023 after an unduly quiet end to last year. Major envelope manufacturers still had not used up their stocks of material. At the same time, demand for envelopes was taking a tumble.
Demand for envelope and shipping bag paper was still subdued as a result. Both paper manufacturers and envelope producers took downtime over the Easter holidays. What’s more, additional machine stoppages are reportedly on the books to help support the market.
On the price front, sources reported substantial price cuts across all grades in the first quarter 2023. Market insiders do not expect an improvemnet to the current market situation anytime soon and forecast another price cut for the second quarter.
