Materials

Cost savings and higher boxboard production helped M-real's Consumer Packaging division to boost profits by 61% to £31m (Euro45m) in the three months to 30 September.

However, sales fell by 5% to £161m as deliveries by folding boxboard producers in Western Europe remained at the same level as in the previous quarter.

M-real's paperboard deliveries totalled 297,000 tonnes, down from 313,000 tonnes in the previous quarter.

The firm said price increases had been implemented in euros, which meant that the cost of folding boxboard remained unchanged despite the weaker dollar.

Delivery volumes of liner paperboard were also 6% lower than in the second quarter.

M-real has already announced (27 September) that it will put up the price of GC1 and GC2 folding boxboard by €60 per tonne on invoiced orders from 12 November.

Paper-based packaging producers DS Smith and Smurfit Kappa have also tried to push through price increases in an attempt to recover raw materials and energy costs.