Mondi marks South American paper bag expansion with new Colombian plant

02 Dec 2020 --- Mondi is set to make a paper bag producing plant operational in Cartagena, Colombia, in January 2021. It will be the consumer packaging giant’s first such plant on the continent.

Customers in the South American chemical, food and cement industries can benefit from local access to Mondi’s paper bags portfolio, which is optimized on-site to meet individual customer requirements.

“As a part of our long term strategy we are looking to constantly improve and grow our services to better serve customers, which also means being as close to our customers as possible,” a Mondi spokesperson tells PackagingInsights.

There is an evident market for regional paper and cement bag production: South America is home to more than 250 cement plants, which require up to two billion cement bags per year.

The plant will open with one production line with a capacity of approximately 50 million bags per year.

Mondi Cartagena’s plant manager Felipe Angel adds that the company is “prepared to expand the production capacity if needed.”

Advantageous location
Mondi Paper Bags is vertically integrated, meaning the company sources high quality kraft paper from its paper mills. “All our paper bag producing plants use our strategically integrated supply chain and local regional suppliers,” the spokesperson explains.

The company views Cartagena as a geopolitically strategic location, considering the new plant will be set up in a free-trade zone.

The plant’s location also grants it access to ports in Panama, the US east coast, the Gulf of Mexico and other Caribbean ports.

Overall, the paper bags plant will help Mondi strengthen its position in the South American region while offering a number of local employment opportunities in the Cartagena area.

The plant in Cartagena will be Mondi’s first in South America.Mondi in mundo
With a global network of 39 plants across 22 countries, Mondi has previously made bold moves to expand its paper bag production worldwide.

In July, the company acquired two paper bag lines from Helwan Cement Company and InterCement Sacs in Egypt. The move increased its paper bag production in the country by approximately 60-80 million bags annually.

Across the Mediterranean, Mondi invested €7 million (US$8.4 million) in a sack-converting machine at its plant in Nyíregyháza, Hungary, to increase the plant’s efficiency for food-packing paper sacks. The investment will see 130 million paper sacks produced annually.

Mondi in the news
Beyond investing in paper bag plants, Mondi has had a busy month. In a €30 million (US$36 million) investment, the paper supplier is currently completing the final stages of the expansion of its existing plant in Ansbach, Germany, to become the largest heavy-duty corrugated cardboard plant in Europe.

Mondi supplied fully recyclable paper for Italian rice producer Riseria Vignola Giovanni’s “Rice Bag” launch and talked with PackagingInsights at Pack Expo Connects 2020.

Edited by Anni Schleicher

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