“The market expectation is that in the long run the end user demand for wipes will remain above pre-COVID levels. However, towards the end of the second quarter, especially our North American customers started to experience a sudden deceleration of demand, which in combination with extraordinary stockpiling throughout the entire supply chain has created an imbalance of inventories. This has impacted also Suominen’s orders. We expect that the demand for our products will recover once this temporary imbalance is cleared. Our current view is that the recovery will start in the fourth quarter”, says Petri Helsky, CEO of Suominen.

New outlook: Suominen expects that its comparable EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) in 2021 will decrease from 2020 due to the slowdown in the demand for nonwovens in the second half of 2021 as well as some continuing volatility in the raw material and transportation markets.  In 2020, Suominen’s comparable EBITDA was EUR 60.9 million.