At the start of October 2021, Progroup recorded sales of over €1bn for the first time in the company’s history. The previous year’s result was surpassed well before the end of 2021.
“Since as far back as the third quarter of 2020, the level of demand for corrugated board across Europe has been extremely high. This dynamic has in fact become even more pronounced in 2021. This is a trend that we are seeing across all markets,” says Jürgen Heindl, CEO, Progroup. “The fact that we were able to achieve our targets so reliably despite the challenges posed by the coronavirus pandemic is a genuine team success. This was the only way we could reliably cater for the high level of demand from our customers.”
The key drivers of these trends are a steady economic recovery, the booming internet trade and the general change in consumer behaviour. At a time when travel, visits to restaurants and other services could no longer be regularly enjoyed in quite the same way, packaged goods were used more than other products.
“We are seeing this in many sectors – from food and electrical appliances and clothing through to pharmaceutical and hygiene products. Another aspect is that consumers and therefore also commerce in general really are demanding packaging that can be recycled consistently. This means that packaging made from corrugated board is becoming more popular compared to other products,” believes Heindl.
The company wants to continue to grow in the future so that it can operate sustainably on the market. At the end of August 2021, the company announced the construction of another sheet-feeder plant in Rhineland-Palatinate. The company is investing more than €90m in this new factory. With production scheduled to begin in the second quarter of 2023, 60 new jobs will be created.
Progroup continues to grow internationally as well. The company’s twelfth sheet-feeder (and its third plant in Poland) is currently being constructed in Stryków, Poland. With its production capacity of 825m sqm per annum, Stryków will be one of the biggest corrugated board plants anywhere in the world. In addition, further growth projects in France and Italy are in the final planning stage. The level of investment in the current projects is around €300m. A total of around 200 new jobs are being created in Germany and abroad.
