IN Brief:
- Mondi’s three-year €1.2 billion programme spans corrugated and flexible packaging mills, coating lines, and converting plants.
- The build-out includes 210,000 tonnes of kraft paper capacity at Štětí, major box-plant upgrades in Warsaw and Simet, and expanded pet food packaging capability.
- The company is now shifting from construction to ramp-up as new food packaging volumes move through the network.
Mondi has completed a €1.2 billion investment programme across its corrugated and flexible packaging operations, with several of the most relevant assets for food packaging now up and running in Central Europe. The programme covers paper mills, coating operations, and converting plants, and forms part of a broader push to raise capacity, improve cost competitiveness, and widen Mondi’s paper-based packaging offer.
At the centre of the expansion is Mondi’s Štětí site in the Czech Republic. The mill’s new paper machine, which started up in December 2024, adds around 210,000 tonnes of kraft paper capacity a year. That matters because Štětí is not simply adding volume — it is adding grades that feed directly into paper-based flexible packaging, including high-strength and high-porosity papers that can support barrier applications.
The same site has also gained a new extrusion line at Mondi Coating Štětí. That investment expands output of FunctionalBarrier Papers and other coated papers for food and non-food contact packaging, giving Mondi more room to supply paper-based structures with customised barrier properties. For food applications, that strengthens its position in the shift toward fibre-led formats that still need sealability, grease resistance, moisture protection, or other performance characteristics.
In Poland, Mondi has expanded its corrugated converting footprint through major projects at Warsaw and Simet. The €90 million upgrade at the Mszczonów plant near Warsaw doubled capacity, making it the company’s largest corrugated solutions plant in Poland and one of the biggest in Europe. At Simet, a €40 million investment has turned the site into a higher-capacity corrugated packaging facility serving customers across food, eCommerce, automotive, and chemicals.
Mondi’s annual results show the wider €1.2 billion programme will, once fully ramped up, add more than 500,000 tonnes of virgin and recycled containerboard capacity, alongside the Štětí kraft paper output. The company also said the programme expanded its market-leading pet food packaging converting capability, placing food, FMCG, and pet care at the centre of the capex cycle rather than on the sidelines.
That ties into the wider direction of Mondi’s packaging portfolio. In late 2025, the company broadened its corrugated and solid board food packaging offer across categories including fresh produce, meat, dairy, frozen food, snacks, and beverages. The new Czech and Polish assets give that commercial offer more industrial backing, from barrier papers and coated substrates through to transit packs, shelf-ready formats, and high-volume corrugated supply.
The spending wave is now largely over. The harder part is next: ramping utilisation, filling the new lines with higher-value food packaging volumes, and turning expanded paper and converting capacity into a stronger position across Europe’s increasingly crowded packaging market.
