Coated and uncoated woodfree paper mills across Europe are taking downtime to adapt output to reduced demand.
The Covid-19 pandemic had Italy's graphic paper market in its tenterhooks in April. Fine paper manufacturers and merchants are some of the big losers of the coronavirus crisis with their sales and deliveries having tumbled.
A number of Italian and European paper mills are already taking temporary downtime or curbing operations to adapt output to demand slump. Other woodfree coated and uncoated paper mills are making arrangements to take temporary downtime in the weeks to come.
Paper merchants were operating in crisis mode, as well. A few of them have temporarily shut down shop, while others have reduced their activities to a minimum with effect from the end of March or start of April.
Market players in Italy are complaining about reduced credit access and worsening payment practices at their customers. Paper suppliers fear that the number of their customers becoming insolvent might rise during the crisis and that they would be left holding the bag.
This article is an excerpt from EUWID's monthly report on the paper and board markets in Italy.
Find the entire article and the EUWID Price Watch Italy for April in EUWID Pulp and Paper issue no 18/2020, which will be available to our print and e-paper subscribers as of 29 April.
