By Helen Morris, Tissue World Editor
When TW visits SCA’s Valls plant to meet site manager Toni Mata, the dust from the company’s acquisition of GeorgiaPacific’s (G-P) European tissue business is still settling. G-P exited the European tissue market at the end of 2011 with SCA completing the acquisition of its portfolio, including its Spanish-based Allo, Canary Island, Sant Joan “We strive to cater for the Despí and Carmona expected level of strength sites, on 19 July 2012. and softness, so the question The move gave SCA is about the quality/cost an extra share of the relationship. Our strategy is Spanish market, making to offer the best compromise its total market presence almost a third. Spain is between both.” already SCA’s seventh Toni Mata site manager Valls largest market in terms of sales, and over the coming months the acquisition will undoubtedly change the face of its tissue industry.
Valls Mill
The impressive Valls site is a key player for SCA in Spain. An hour and a half’s drive south-west of Barcelona, its presence is felt as soon as you leave the picturesque streets of the Roman town of Tarragona. It is set by itself on the outskirts of the town and the 100,000sqm building looms over you. It was established in 1951 as a family business and acquired by SCA in 1998 when the business identified potential in the Spanish tissue market. “We saw a gap in the market for consumer tissue so we’ve concentrated on expanding here ever since,” Mata says. “It’s a strategic site that has followed the evolution of the market and seen us move into the Awayfrom-Home (AfH) sector.” In addition to the G-P sites, the company’s acquisition activity has also been strong over the years. In 2006 it acquired tissue converting company Mapacasa on the Canary Islands, and in 2007 it expanded its tissue converting capacity in Valls. “AfH is going to be very interesting in the long-term,” Mata says. “Of course at the moment the sector is very much impacted by the economic downturn, but we are performing better than average. There is low growth generally in the Spanish AfH market nevertheless SCA is having a positive development.” As for the consumer sector, he says the company has a very strong relationship with its partners, which include heavyweight clients such as Mercadona, Eroski and some international clients such as Aldi. SCA is an intersupplier of Mercadona and the exclusive supplier of Eroski. “Volumes of consumer tissue are by far the highest in the Valls
Production lines at the company’s Valls site
SCA factory. We have and continue to see good evolution of volumes,” he adds. “The situation of tissue products has been complicated because of the increase in VAT in Spain. It’s meant that in September there was a lot of stagnation, but the tissue market here is still growing, although recently with slightly lower momentum.” He says the drivers during the economic downturn are cost and quality. “It’s all about cost now and we have definitely seen
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