Ticking all the boxes

2 January 2013



Its close involvement with the fast-moving food and pharmaceutical packaging sectors mean cartonboard is well placed for steady future progress. David Longfield reports


The cartonboard sector in Europe is experiencing a period of not unwelcome stability, according to Richard Dalgleish, general manager of the European Association of Cartonboard Manufacturers, CEPI Cartonboard. “The cartonboard industry is continuing at a reasonably good level,” he says. “Deliveries have been prompt, and there haven’t been the delays of previous years.”

The balance between the grades being produced “hasn’t shown much change”, he says, with more than half of the total accounted for by white lined chipboard and more than a quarter by folding boxboard. And despite the industry as a whole suffering “a bit of a dip” in 2009, demand had “bounced back in 2011”.

CEPI Cartonboard’s members represent mills in 10 countries, representing a total capacity of more than 95% of the total European capacity for the cartonboard grades solid bleached sulphite, solid unbleached sulphate, folding boxboard and white lined chipboard.

The lack of radical movement evident in the sector may indeed be no bad thing for the Zurich-headquartered organisation’s member producers.

“When supply and demand are in balance, it does make it easier for companies’ planning,” says Dalgleish.

As products in sectors such as food and pharmaceuticals are generally necessities, this has given cartonboard the advantage of steadier demand than in other, perhaps higher value sectors such as electronics or luxury goods, Dalgleish contends.

Combined force

First announced in June 2012, the merger of cartonboard manufacturer Korsnäs and paper maker Billerud was completed at the end of November. Former Korsnäs CEO Crister Simrén (pictured above) has assumed the role of executive vice president and chief operating officer of the new company BillerudKorsnäs.

Operating in the business areas of packaging paper, consumer board and containerboard, approximately 75% of sales in BillerudKorsnäs are consumer related, with Food & Beverage the largest segment. Europe is currently the most important market to the new company, whose annual turnover is about SEK 20 billion (€2.3bn).

Simrén says it is a “dream team”, as a platform for international expansion with a “broad and balanced product portfolio”.

With about 4,400 employees in all, the newly merged operation currently has a total production capacity of approximately 2,900 kilotonnes annually, through five production units in Sweden, two in Finland and one in the UK.

“Focus will be on fulfilling brand owners’ and converters’ requirements,” Simrén continues, adding that the new company will continue to target consumer goods sectors in which technical properties, such as stiffness and yield, and high appearance (surface, gloss) are important.

“This includes luxury products for cosmetic applications, packaging for high-end beverages, consumer electronics, and so on,” he says, pointing to Asia in particular as a growing market.

“Studies shows that the global packaging market is expected to continue to grow in the coming years,” says Simrén. “I believe this also is the case for cartonboard, and that BillerudKorsnäs is well positioned for continued growth.”

Barrier interest

Finland-based Stora Enso’s Skoghall mill is now producing the company’s CKB multilayer packaging board with a polyethylene coating made from renewable raw materials derived from sugar cane. The company developed the product in partnership with PE packaging manufacturer Trioplast/Ekmans in Sweden, using material supplied by Braskem, Brazil.

CKB is a fully coated multilayer board with unbleached kraft on the reverse, in the range 175-390g/m², targeting primary end uses in beverages and multipacks, chocolate and confectionery, foods and pharmaceuticals.

“We see an increasing interest in the market for sustainable barrier coatings,” says Fredrik Werner, market support & product manager at Skoghall Mill. “The customer will not notice any difference in performance and the laminate can be recycled as usual.”

Consumers will first see packages coated with the new CKB laminate on fish gratin products from the Norwegian fish and seafood company Domstein, which are scheduled for launch in early 2013.

Cartons and carbon

In early December 2012, Pro Carton – the European association that brings together the two elements of the supply chain, cartonboard and cartons – published a brochure backing the strong environmental claims made by the industry. Full life cycle data from 2011, including virgin and recycled fibres and printed cartons from more than 69% of the production capacity in Europe, was compared to data collected in 2008. Overall, the report showed a fall of 5% in the average carbon footprint for the industry, at 915kg CO2 equivalent/tonne of cartonboard produced and converted.

“This new Carbon Footprint figure continues the trend for continuous improvement in the environmental performance of the industry,” the Pro Carton report stated.

The 2008 figure given by Pro Carton of 964kg CO2 eq/tonne was itself a drop of 7% compared to the figure for 2005. Much of the improvement, the body says, is due to: “More efficient use of electricity, increasing use of bio-energy and more focus on measurement and control of water use.”

The Pro Carton brochure also summarises the conclusions of a 2009 report by the IVL Swedish Research Institute, proposing a link between net carbon sequestration in sustainably managed forests and consumption of cartons. The study suggests that, in a cradle-to-gate approach, 730kg of biogenic carbon dioxide is removed from the atmosphere per average tonne of cartons in Europe, thereby largely compensating for the 915kg CO2 equivalents emitted in production.

The Artisan touch

The new lightweight Artisan cartonboard launched by Korsnäs in October is aimed at packaging for premium brands. Besides strength, high printability and design possibilities, it also features a silky-soft surface, the company says.

Korsnäs Artisan is a white-coated cartonboard with a multi-layered board structure, made from 100% virgin fibres. Approved for direct contact with food and available with a FSC label, Artisan is light-coated on the top side with an uncoated reverse, and is available in 245, 270, 300, 325, 360 and 390g/m².

Artisan’s pleasant tactile feel moves packaging into the area of ‘haptic perception’ (identifying objects through the sense of touch).

If a pack is pleasant to the touch, the consumer’s experience becomes much more emotionally satisfying, the company says. It goes beyond the instance of purchase.

Ahead of the game on mineral oils

With concerns rising over the migration of mineral oils from packaging into food, Mayr-Meinhof Karton has developed Foodboard – a cartonboard grade described as a functional protection against mineral oils, as well as other unintended substances such as benzophenones, phthalates or DIPN. Foodboard achieves protection for its contents by a special board structure and the application of a carefully selected barrier on the food contact side of the cartonboard.

Ongoing long-term tests under real-life storage conditions have proven the functional barrier of Foodboard against unintended substances and cross-contamination, Austria-based MM-Karton says, describing the issue of migration of unwanted substances as solved.

Foodboard requires no investment to existing converting and packaging line technologies and it can be processed like any other standard cartonboard. MM-Karton says the reaction of authorities, media and business partners has been extremely positive.

Italy chipboard coating upgrade

Milan-based Reno de Medici has invested €7.5 million in a new Voith curtain coater at its mill site in Villa Santa Lucia, Italy. Installed in August, the state-of-the-art system brings an improved consistent coating for high quality printing, the company says.

The Villa Santa Lucia mill produces 220,000 tonnes of WLC (white lined chipboard) liner on 4.45m-wide machinery, making it the largest of the Reno de Medici liner mills. The mill is dedicated to the production of coated liner for lamination, for the display and packaging markets.

The company has designed premium coated duplex liners specifically for offset printing – Vinciliner, available from 145g/m² to 290 g/m²; and for flexo printing – Vinciflexo, available from 145 g/m² to 230 g/m².

Brighter outlook for Panka grades

Pankaboard has relaunched its coated cartonboard grades PankaBrite and PankaWhite, describing them as bulkier, stronger, optically whiter. The Finland-based company says it has made substantial efforts and investments in order to bring forward the overall product quality of its major packaging grades. Throughout the entire range of PankaBrite (GC2) the thickness of the board has been increased by 30 microns, while for PankaWhite (GC1) the increase has been 10 microns.

Development in the quality of the ground-wood pulp has also enabled quality improvements regarding the visual and surface characteristics of PankaBrite and PankaWhite. More consistent surface smoothness and appearance enables immaculate print reproduction in both offset and flexo printing, the company says.


Managed forest in Sweden (c/o Pro Carton) Pro Carton Stora Enso’s laminate board CKB features a polyethylene coating made with renewable raw materials derived from sugar cane Stora Enso Christer Simren Christer Simren

Pro Carton Pro Carton
Stora Enso Stora Enso
Christer Simren Christer Simren


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