TWM’s annual Projects Survey charts all new capacity being added, ordered or in final planning stages during 2023-2024, as well as noting any projects already planned for 2025.
An impressive 108 new projects are listed in this year’s annual Projects Survey, which charts the accumulation of tissue capacity data collected across the global industry during 2023, and the projects expected to start-up in 2024 and 2025.
This compares with 102 tissue projects listed in 2023’s survey, 157 listed in 2022’s survey, and the 146 tissue machine projects that were listed in 2021’s.
TWM’s annual Projects Survey gains significant intel from the magazine’s six annual Country Reports, which in 2023 included in-depth interviews with tissue mills in Germany, Spain, South Korea, North America, the Middle East, and Brazil. Wide ranging news coverage throughout 2023 and into 2024 has also reported on the latest tissue machinery investments from across every continent. In many cases, information and investment strategy have come from leading executives themselves.
While the survey represents a detailed snapshot of production strategies in all the major tissue regions, as always caution must be considered with the survey’s findings due in large part to its sheer scope. The figures included here are based on the best information provided, and this has included extensive research into the global tissue industry over the past few years, as well as a reliance on reliable responses from the many companies contacted to detail their present and future developments.
And as is often the case, many of last years predicted start-ups have been delayed and are now planned for 2024, and some of the ‘new’ capacity announced this year includes some of last year’s estimate. Additionally, some companies declined to comment on their projects at this time. There are also a substantial number of confidential projects.
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Notable points to include
While last year’s survey had been a year dominated by Covid-19, 2023 was a year where wars, the cost-of-living crisis, the energy crisis, and inflation made headlines. With that in mind, the 108 number of tissue projects listed is an impressive feat. A special mention must go to two projects launched in the most extreme circumstances: in Ukraine, where Kochavinska Paper Factory started-up its A.Celli-supplied turnkey iDEAL tissue line at its site in the Lviv region on 28 October 2023, and Israel’s Panda Paper Mills (1997), which announced a Toscotec-supplied complete drying section rebuild of PM1 at its Netanya production facility, which is expected to start-up in the second half of 2024.
Environmentally focused projects have been accelerated. Increasing in the past 12 months almost more than any other are the number of tissue projects announcing ambitious sustainability actions and targets. One positive, at least, to come from the ongoing energy crisis.
This year some 57 projects are in China, again the largest number of start-ups in any country. However, as the Chinese economy goes through a slowdown and fears grow over overcapacity, the figure is substantially lower than last year’s survey that expected 80 tissue machines to come on stream. This slowdown could be a result of ongoing overcapacity in the country. It is also important to note there are numerous other small confidential start-ups in China not listed here.
Across the Middle East, one confidential project is also expected to start up, while Saudi Arabia has three new lines expected to come on stream during 2023 and 2024. Whilst in previous surveys Türkiye looked robust – with six tissue machines that were projected to come on stream in 2021, 2022 or 2023 – this year just one project is expected to start-up.
Lastly, a timely note to begin on at the start of 2024, and this January/February TWM’s Regional Report: Latin American.
The Brazilian tissue market continues to go from strength-to-strength – while last year’s survey noted just two tissue projects expected to come on stream, this year notes seven, six of which are expected to start production in 2024, and all of which are supplied by Andritz or Hergen.
There is also one tissue project expected to be started up in each of Argentina, Colombia, El Salvador, and Guatemala, and three new tissue machines and one rebuild in Mexico.
CAUTION
All aggregates taken from the survey should be treated with some caution. While all care has been taken to publish comprehensive data, it is inevitable that projects will be missing or details incomplete. Many projects have also been delayed, so start-up data used in last year’s Project Survey has had to be repeated. We welcome your help to ensure as comprehensive a survey as possible at the end of 2024-2025.
