Europe Tissue and Hygiene Paper Market - Growth, Trends, COVID-19 Impact, and Forecasts (2022 - 2027)

Europe Tissue and Hygiene Paper Market - Growth, Trends, COVID-19 Impact, and Forecasts (2022 - 2027)

The Europe Tissue and Hygiene Paper Market registered a CAGR of 1.62% during 2022-2027. COVID-19 and panic-buying had a little bit of a downside impact on the tissue and hygiene market. Due to increased sales in the retail sector, orders had increased significantly in March and April 2020 across Europe, especially in Germany. Temporarily, the demand for toilet paper in 2020 was nearly twice as high as usual, but that has since leveled off in 2021.

Key Highlights

• Tissue paper products, including paper towels and toilet paper, play an essential role in everyday life. They contribute to improved hygiene, comfort, and convenience. According to the European Tissue Symposium (European Tissue Paper Association), the European market represents around 25% of the global tissue market. The advancements in tissue manufacturing technology and the efficient use of raw materials may improve the design of tissue products and the way they are dispensed.
• The consumption of tissue-paper-related products in Europe is rising due to increasing awareness regarding hygiene, growth in the share of private or retailer labels, high per capita consumption, growing used of tissues in the away from the home segment, and moderate population growth, among other factors. In a report published by the German Süddeutsche Zeitung, the average annual consumption of toilet paper in Germany was estimated at 93 rolls per household.
• Consolidation is one of the prevalent trends in the European tissue market, as the major players have been growing through both sizeable acquisitions and organic growth. The market consolidation has also increased due to expansion in the market sizes of the middle-sized and small players. According to a report by the European Tissue Symposium, published in Q2 2020, Essity, Sofidel Group, and the WEPA Group accounted for 27.6%, 12.3%, and 9.6% of the capacity shares in the European tissue market, almost 50% of the overall market.
• In Europe, the Tuscan industry (Italy) is one of the pillars of the tissue paper sector. In this region, 80% of the national tissue paper production occurs, with approximately 1,200,000 metric tons of tissues produced per year. The most important national producers of paper for hygienic/sanitary use are located in the Lucca district, which ranks first in Europe, with 21% of production volumes. (Source: A. Celli Group).

Key Market TrendsToilet Paper to Drive the Market Growth

• Toilet paper commands a prominent share in both away-from-home and home utilities such as tissue and hygiene products. It is used widely in almost all business establishments, commercial places, and households. Kimberly-Clark leads the toilet paper business in the European market, followed by Essity. The United Kingdom remains an important growth market in Europe despite COVID-19 and Brexit.
• Toilet paper sales increased dramatically during the pandemic in most European countries. According to an article published on Forbes, in October 2020, 10% of German consumers stocked up toilet papers due to the ongoing lockdown in the country. Such instances were witnessed across several other countries as manufacturers faced a huge upsurge in demand for toilet paper.
• The ongoing demand compelled several companies to increase their production capacity to meet the spiking demands. For instance, in September 2020, Wepa, one of the leading toilet paper manufacturers in Europe, expanded its Bridgend Factory. It invested in a new paper machine with an annual production capacity of 65,000 metric tons. Moreover, WEPA UK secured GBP 6 million from the Welsh government to support its expansion plans.
• Many companies are working on innovative solutions to improve customer experience. For instance, in March 2021, The Navigator Company launched a new generation of tissue paper that has a soap inside called Amoos AquactiveTM, whose innovative technology, Aquactive, is activated when the paper comes in contact with water immediately producing soap foam.
• Moreover, in September 2021, Metsä Tissue, the tissue paper business of the forest industry Metsä Group, announced to invest in a new tissue mill in the United Kingdom. The company planned to increase tissue paper production capacity to 240,000 tons in several phases during the upcoming years. The plans are part of the company’s Future Mill program to drive world-class environmental performance in tissue production.

The United Kingdom to Witness Significant Growth

• The United Kingdom is one of the major markets in Europe, where the use of hygiene products and toiletries is significantly high. Additionally, the country is one of the prominent markets for diapers. According to various studies, about 7.5-8 million nappies are used in the country. Moreover, the country's population aged between 0-9 years stood at 8.01 million in 2019, according to the Office for National Statistics (UK). There were 640,370 live births in the country during the year, which was a decrease of 2.5%. The country's birth rate has been declining steadily since the last decade, and the aging population is increasing, which is expected to impact the diaper market in the country.
• In the United Kingdom, with a growing and aging population, the demand for hygiene products continues to increase. The United Kingdom manufacturers make products for all market sections, from branded premium products that focus on quality to generic grades of tissues that cost less. Many mills in the country have de-inking plants to process recycled paper fiber to produce tissues.
• According to a report by the United Kingdom Office for National Statistics (2021), the manufacturer sales of paper for household and sanitary goods and toilet requisites in the region accounted for GBP 2,266 million in 2020. The volume sales of toilet paper and hand towels amounted to 855,717 and 281,699 metric tons, respectively.
• The average weekly household expenditure on toilet paper in the United Kingdom in 2020 by people aged less than 30 years, 30 to 49 years, 50 to 64 years, 65 to 74 years, and all households accounted for GBP 0.8, 1.1, 1, 0.9, and 1, respectively. (Source: Office for National Statistics, March 2021). All the factors mentioned above are likely to contribute to the growth of the studied market in the region during the forecast period. Pampers held a prominent share of the market in the country. According to a study (sample size (n)=6218) by Swagbucks in the United Kingdom, about 21% of the respondents mentioned that Pampers was their favorite brand for baby diapers, followed by Huggies (5% share) and Asda Diapers (4%).
• The United Kingdom is among the countries in Western Europe that have reached high penetration rates for disposable hygiene products, especially for wipes, baby diapers, and femcare pads. With Brexit, the push to manufacture these products in the country is expected to increase over the next two years. Also, in recent times, private labels are emerging as major brands in these product categories. For example, diapers from Asda, Tesco, and Sainsbury, which are major grocery and retail chains in the country, command a lower single-digit share of the market already and rapidly growing as well.
• The demand for women's hygiene products has also reached the maturity stage in the country as the country's female population is slightly higher than that of the male population.

Competitive Landscape

The tissue and hygiene paper market is moderately competitive, with new firms entering the market and the existing firms holding a part of the market share. The firms keep entering strategic partnerships and innovating new products to retain their market share.

• September 2021 - Essity started the sustainable production of tissue based on pulp from wheat straw. The plant in Mannheim, Germany, is the first of its kind in Europe and the first large-scale tissue producer globally. With straw instead of wood-based virgin or recovered fibers as raw material, the process also requires less water and energy.
• June 2021 - In pursuit of its 2030 ambition to reduce the use of fossil fuel-based plastics by half before the end of the decade, Kimberly-Clark announced a partnership with the biotech company, RWDC Industries, to advance sustainable technology for consumer products that provide much-needed solutions to the world's single-use plastics problem.
• June 2021 - the Black Sea Trade and Development Bank (BSTDB) provided a 7-year EUR 75 million loans to the Turkish Hayat Kimya Group to construct a new factory in Kaluga (Russia) to produce cleansing tissues and towels.
• April 2021 - WEPA Group, based in Germany, launched its first eco-friendly brand, Feel Good ecological toilet paper. It is composed of recycled paper of the highest quality, including scrap paper, magazines, and even retail catalogs. The company plans to invest more than GBP 100 million in a new paper line at its Bridgend plant in the next two years.

Additional Benefits:

• The market estimate (ME) sheet in Excel format
• 3 months of analyst support

Companies Mentioned

Sofidel Group
Kimberly
Clark Corporation
WEPA Industrie Holding SE
Metsä Group
Industrie Cartarie Tronchetti SpA
Lucart SpA
Essity AB
Renova'
Procter & Gamble
Cartiere Carrara SpA
Industrie Celtex SpA
Johnson & Johnson Services Inc.
Ontex Group
Tosama
Drylock Technologies NV