Proposed closure of our Meltham Site

The Directors of Northwood Hygiene Products (NHP) regret to announce the proposed closure of the Meltham converting site.

The underlying reason for the proposed closure is in response to raw material cost price inflation.

Both wood pulp and recovered paper have seen significant cost increases over the past 18 – 24 months and forecasts anticipate this trend will continue as global demand for wood pulp and recovered paper continues to outstrip supply.

In actual terms, there has been an increase in recovered fibre costs of over 32% and on hardwood pulp of over 40%.

The increases in costs are due to several factors, primarily global economic growth, but also an increasing demand for paper-based packaging solutions as a result of rapid growth in the e-commerce sector as well as the fibre-based materials replacing plastic.

The proposal for the Meltham site is to relocate production and absorb the volume within other Northwood sites. The lease for the Meltham site terminates at the end of September 2018.

Customers will be unaffected by this closure.