Finland’s Suominen is set to start a consultation with local trade unions to permanently stop manufacturing at its Mozzate plant. The production would end during the second quarter of 2023. The consultation will be conducted in accordance with the Italian legislation and applicable National Collective Agreement and is aimed to be completed within 90 days.

The Mozzate site currently employs 92 people, working both in production and in office roles. The wipes nonwovens market is rapidly transitioning towards more sustainable alternatives. In line with its strategy, Suominen has set targets to increase the sales of sustainable products and to continuously innovate new environmentally friendly nonwovens, the company said in a press release.

Klaus Korhonen, interim president and CEO, said: “Since the normalisation of the COVID-induced demand surge, the competition in the European wipes nonwovens market has increased significantly driven mainly by imports from Turkey and China. This is the case especially in the traditional blended fibre products. At the same time energy costs in Italy have increased to record high levels. These two factors combined have created huge challenges for the cost competitiveness of our plant in Mozzate.

“The demand for traditional blended fibre products in Europe is declining. Manufacturing sustainable nonwovens competitively requires production assets and processes optimised specifically for these products. Our lines at the Mozzate plant are not best suited for sustainable fibres, and this combined with high operating costs means that the plant is not competitive and its competitiveness is not expected to improve materially going forward. We are constantly evaluating the performance and profitability of our assets, and in the current situation we have unfortunately come to the conclusion that we need to consider closing the production at Mozzate to improve the competitiveness of our European business.”