European tissue jumbo roll prices start to rise in March as input cost increases erode margins

Prices for locally produced virgin fiber-based tissue jumbo rolls in Europe started to increase in March, with some market participants mentioning rises of up to €20 ($23) per tonne.

The increases were said to be mostly driven by pressure on input costs, especially pulp.

During the same period, paper arriving from China and Turkey was delivered at unchanged prices, and so was recycled-based paper, even that produced in Europe.

In the UK, prices for virgin tissue paper remained flat in March, mostly due to cheap imports from Turkey and especially Asia, and recycled-based paper prices were also carried over into March.

“Before March, we tried to increase prices by $40-50 per tonne,” a non-European tissue jumbo roll supplier source told Fastmarkets at the end of March. “Unfortunately, the war started and we are still trying to increase our prices, but many customers told us they get paper from China at such low prices too hard for us to compete with.”

During the first three months of the year, the PIX Pulp BHKP index grew by 18.1% to €1,112 per tonne as of March 31, while the PIX Pulp NBSK index rose by 12.2% to €1,431 per tonne.

Following the start of the war in the Middle East, the cost situation for European tissue paper mills got even worse, with spiking gas and oil prices prompting a wave of increases in energy, transport and chemical costs, according to sources.

“Freight rates are increasing, while road transport haulers already asked for a 5-10% increase,” a market participant said.

Consequently, European tissue producers have announced price increases of €40-50 per tonne and up to €100 per tonne in some cases to offset rising raw material, transport and energy costs.

“Price increases will definitely be implemented in April, otherwise we do not deliver paper,” a third market source told Fastmarkets at the beginning of the month.

According to another source, there is talk in the market that some Italian tissue mills might take downtime due to high energy prices.

On Thursday, April 2, Sofidel said it will implement a temporary production cost surcharge in the “upper single-digit range” to all European customers in April.

“In addition to the pulp cost increase of the last months, the persistence of geopolitical tensions in the Middle East continues to generate volatility in energy markets, with effects reverberating throughout the value chain – from energy and raw materials to logistics and transportation,” the company told Fastmarkets.

Foreign tissue paper suppliers are also seeking increases from April onwards. According to market sources, Turkish producers are asking for a $50 price increase in Europe as of April, while some Asian suppliers already implemented price hikes for March and April production, with deliveries from late April.

Turkish tissue producers are coping with higher labor costs, with the country’s minimum wage increasing by 27% in 2026, and higher electricity and transport costs linked to the war in the Middle East.

Most market participants described tissue paper demand as stable between March and April, and some expect an increase in napkin and tablecloth consumption going towards summer. 

On the supply side, a number of companies have started up new paper machines in recent months.

In December 2025, Poland’s Velvet Care commissioned the fourth paper machine at its Klucze mill, thus increasing production capacity to 210,000 tonnes per year (tpy).

At the beginning of the year Industrie Cartarie Tronchetti (ICT) started a new tissue paper machine at its Deeside paper mill in the UK, while Greek tissue paper producer and converter Intertrade Hellas started up a new 80,000 tpy tissue paper machine at its Oinofyta paper mill near Athens on February 24. The mill can now produce more than 140,000 tpy of tissue paper.

Wepa, Fapajal, Fripa Papierfabrik and Eren Group are also expected to commission new tissue paper machines in 2026 and 2027.

According to data from the Confederation of European Paper Industries’ (CEPI), European tissue production slipped by 0.2% year on year to 8.1 million tonnes in 2025.

Fastmarkets is proposing to launch four monthly price assessments for tissue jumbo rolls delivered to Europe on Thursday May 28.

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