Packaging giant Smurfit reports a rise in fourth quarter production volume

PACKAGING giant Smurfit Kappa CEO Tony Smurfit believes the worst of a year-long dip in demand for packaging appears over.

Smurfit was speaking this week after the company, whose Ballymount premises is their packaging head office, reported a rise in fourth quarter production volume that stopped three quarters of declines.

A fall in demand for packaging when economies reopened after covid and consumers spent more on travel and other services led to 3.5 per cent fall in Smurfit’s volumes last year and a 12 per cent drop in core profit.

Smurfit, Europe’s largest paper packaging producer, said volumes were flat in the fourth quarter in Europe and up by 1.6 per cent in the Americas, the two geographies it operates in.

The head of its European unit later told analysts that its shipments per day were 3 per cent higher year-on-year in January, while its Americas chief pointed to growth of 2-3 per cent.

“I think the worst is behind us in the sense of demand,” CEO Tony Smurfit told CNBC, adding that February also looked good so far.

Group volumes declined by 7 per cent, 5 per cent and 2 per cent in the first, second and third quarters, respectively.

In September of last year, Smurfit Kappa and US firm WestRock announced their plans to merge. The transaction is expected to close in July this year, subject to shareholder and regulatory approvals.

Smurfit Kappa has around 47,000 employees in over 350 production sites across 36 countries.

The company is located in 22 countries in Europe, and in 13 across the Americas.