GLOBAL BUSINESS
“ When I first got into the paper industry, in the mid-90s, paper was arguably at its peak in production and demand,” Bill Rojack says. “Ever since, there’s been a steady decline in demand.” Rojack is the vice president of the National Division of MIDLAND, one of America’s biggest independent paper and packaging distributors. This steady downward trend had led many paper manufacturers either to close their plants or repurpose their equipment.
“Paper mills are incredibly expensive,” Rojack explains. “To start a paper mill costs about $2 billion (€1.8 billion). It takes about five years to build a mill. It’s the third most energyintensive business in the U.S.” These high costs mean that manufacturers are under extreme pressure to ensure that adequate profits are made.
“At the start of the pandemic, many paper mills ... stopped manufacturing and sold strictly out of their inventory.” But ...
