They started ten years ago in Norway
The Vajda-Papír Group started paper production and processing in June 2013 in the Drammen factory near Oslo, which dates back more than 100 years, where 120 employees are employed and the entire spectrum of hygienic paper products is produced. The annual production now reaches 30,000 tons, and the turnover almost doubled last year, reaching HUF 20 billion, and thus the Norwegian factory accounted for a quarter of the group’s sales.
“The results of the last 10 years also prove that we made the right decision when establishing the Norwegian subsidiary, as Vajda-Papír Scandinavia accounted for a quarter of the company group’s sales last year. Exports and local traffic are developing nicely in Scandinavia, so we are planning further investments and expansion in the near future,” said the founder-owner on the 10th anniversary of the establishment of the Norwegian company, during the visit of the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
Attila Vajda, the founding managing director of Vajda-Papír, said that the market outlook is significantly improved by the fact that in this region the demand for payment is stronger than the European average, so higher shelf prices can be achieved in line with this, and therefore higher supplier prices can be enforced despite the higher transport costs. Prices. Thanks to this, exports to Scandinavia are expanding year by year at a faster rate than the turnover of the entire company, last year, for example, 63% of all Hungarian exports (worth HUF 12.5 billion) arrived in the region, he said. He said that exports to Scandinavia jumped from 21% in 2019 to 29% of Vajda-Papír Kft.’s turnover in 1 year, which has been growing year by year more than the company’s sales, thereby increasing its share. With this, the region already represented 63% of total exports in 2022.
A strong position in the fiercely competitive situation
In addition to the market potential, the competitive situation is also fierce, however, according to the managing director, Vajda-Papír has built a strong position, primarily thanks to the fact that their factories use the most modern technology, which is also a guarantee of energy-saving operation. The war in Ukraine and the energy crisis worsened profitability last year, as it is an industry with a high energy demand, but Attila Vajda expects an improving trend this year. In spite of the difficult circumstances, the managing director called it a significant achievement that the company kept its number of employees, and with the handover of the second phase of the factory in Dunaföldvár, 50 new jobs were created, while ensuring complete self-sufficiency in raw material production. “With this, we have further strengthened Hungary’s self-sufficiency in hygienic paper products, as the own production of the raw material strengthens the safety of production, and Vajda-Papír’s annual production of 140,000 tons is far more than able to meet the country’s entire annual demand of 90,000 tons, if necessary,” he said. . Attila Vajda added that the achieved results were greatly supported by the company’s foreign market positions, so the focus is on further increasing exports and expanding export markets this year as well. “The results so far prove that we are on the right track when we cast our vote in favor of high-quality technology, environmentally conscious production, and the continuous education of employees, thereby not only increasing the added value of the paper industry, but contributing to the strengthening of the entire national economy,” he said.
Attila Vajda reported that exports and local traffic in the Northern European region and Scandinavia are getting stronger every year. The company manager highlighted that Sweden stands out among the countries of the region, exports to this country have grown most dynamically, more than sixfold (641%) in 3 years, so this is the most important country in terms of exports of Vajda-Papír to the foreign market, the 6 billion forints to this country export turnover in 2022 was almost three times that of Denmark, which is next in order. In 2022, we sold more than 16 million packages of paper products to our partners in the region – Norway, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Sweden.
This year’s Swedish export earnings may exceed HUF 8 billion. Last year, the total export revenue received by Scandinavian destinations amounted to 12.5 billion forints, and this year, according to plans, it may exceed 16.5 billion forints in the Northern European region, which, in addition to the Scandinavian countries, also includes Finland and Iceland.
The managing director of Vajda-Papír said that last year the company group delivered more than 13,000 tons of paper goods to the Northern European region, more than 1,000 tons per month, so it can be said that every working day 10 trucks left for the region with Vajda-Papír products. According to the plans, this year’s delivery may approach 14.5 thousand tons. The company supplies 97% of household products to the Scandinavian region – 62% toilet paper, 31% paper towels, so both the tissue and napkin categories still have great potential – but the expansion of the range of products offers further development opportunities. too.
Scandinavia-Hungary axis
Attila Vajda emphasized that the Scandinavia-Hungary production axis gives the Vajda-Papír Group the opportunity to provide its partners with the best price-quality ratio, the lowest with hygienic finished products produced with environmental stress.
They were formed nearly a quarter of a century ago
Vajda-Papír was founded 24 years ago as a family business and employs approximately 650 employees at the group level. In addition to sales in Hungary and Norway, the company’s hygienic paper products are delivered to more than 30 countries around the world, more than 50% of the group’s total production of hygienic paper products is sold on export markets. Last year, Vajda-Papír doubled its sales in its factories in Hungary and Norway, and its total turnover exceeded HUF 80 billion. The company group’s annual production in 2023 is expected to exceed 150,000 tons.
