Nine Dragons schedules more recycled containerboard downtime at three mills in China

Slow demand and weak board prices are driving the downtime at Chinese board mills

Nine Dragons Paper (Holdings) has set forth more downtime plans for three mills in China, which is estimated to trim its recycled containerboard production by a total of 79,000 tonnes by early May.

The company suspended a 550,000 tonne per year (tpy) recycled containerboard machine, dubbed PM 40, at its mill in Chongqing municipality in the southwestern part of the country on April 7 and it is set to remain offline for 30 days. The prolonged stoppage is expected to cut the output of testliner and corrugating medium by approximately 49,000 tonnes.

The company is also slowing production at its 1 million tpy recycled containerboard mill in Tangshan city, in the northern province of Hebei.

The 350,000 tpy Y6 machine there is going through a 10-day outage, which started on April 10 and will cut the mill’s kraft-top liner output by around 10,000 tonnes.

In the nearby Tianjin municipality, the company boasts five packaging board production lines with a combined capacity of 2.15 million tpy.

The 450,000 tpy recycled linerboard unit PM 25 there is scheduled to suspend operations for 15 days from April 14, which will reduce its kraft-top liner output by nearly 20,000 tonnes.

The slowdown is part of a wider Chinese mill curtailment

These halts have come on top of Nine Dragons’ extensive production curtailment arrangements, which started mid-February and have affected the three facilities above as well as its board mills in Guangdong, Fujian and Jiangsu provinces.

If all the scheduled shutdowns, which Nine Dragons ascribed to maintenance purposes, are carried through, the company will trim nearly 719,000 tonnes of board supply between mid-February and mid-May.

Other recycled packaging board producers in China have also been curbing production on various scales since early February.

Sluggish packaging demand and weak board prices are the key drivers behind the widespread downtime at Chinese board mills.

The large-scale supply cuts appear to have balanced the market and eased the downward pressure on board prices. Some producers have started pushing for hikes, typically of Renminbi (RMB) 50 ($7.30) per tonne, for their recycled containerboard grades since last week. It remains to be seen by how much transaction prices will rise.

Subscribe to PPI Asia to see the full table. The newsletter offers the industry’s most trusted pulp and paper market news and prices for Asia. Speak to our team to find out more.

Case Study

Learn how to monitor packaging prices using cost and price indices and understand the underlying cost drivers, from material cost to labor, energy and more. Examples include cartonboard, liquid container and paper bag.

What to read next
The purpose of this review is to ensure that the index continues to accurately reflect prevailing market conditions. We welcome feedback from industry participants on potential amendments to the base specification. This consultation, which is open until August 9, 2025 seeks to ensure that our methodologies continue to reflect the physical market under indexation, in […]
Despite the current headwinds, strategic partnerships and continued investment in the right areas, coupled with the underlying strong long-term demand fundamentals, will pave the way for success for lithium producers, according to the participants of the executive panel during the Fastmarkets Lithium Supply and Battery Raw Materials Conference, which took place from June 23-26 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The US and Europe must adopt long-term, consistent policies and should learn lessons from China, according to lithium industry experts speaking at Fastmarkets’ Lithium Supply and Battery Raw Materials Conference in Las Vegas, US, over June 22-25.
Learn about PCA's strategic acquisition of Greif's containerboard business and its impact on the packaging industry.
This consultation was done as an adhoc methodology review process, aiming to better reflect the physical market under indexation, considering its reduced liquidity linked to the combination of seasonal demand patterns and the implementation of cross-border import tariffs between the US and China. No feedback was received during the consultation period and therefore Fastmarkets will […]
Fastmarkets has corrected the rationale for its MB-CO-0021 cobalt hydroxide payable indicator, min 30% Co, cif China, % payable of Fastmarkets’ standard-grade cobalt price (low-end), which was published incorrectly on Wednesday July 2 due to a reporter error.