Rusken Packaging is opening a new 440,000 square foot facility in Hazleton, Pennsylvania, expected to start running boxes in early May 2023. The site houses a BHS 110-inch corrugator and other converting equipment.

Mauser has added a new plastics drum line at its Durban plant, enabling production of UN-certified tight-head drums in 210, 232 and 250 litre sizes.

Packaging Holdings announced the bolt-on acquisition of Ace Corrugated, a corrugated box maker based in Cavan. It is part of two bolt-on deals with a combined outlay of over EUR 11 million.

Cheer Pack North America developed a 5-oz flexible spouted refill pouch for ScottsMiracle-Gro's Ortho GroundClear weed and grass killer concentrate, the first of its kind in the weed control category.

Ardagh Metal Packaging's planned £150 million can factory at Global Point Business Park in Newtownabbey has been delayed by at least a year, with construction now unlikely before 2024. The plant was expected to create around 160 permanent jobs.

Imaflex Inc selected Bandera U.S. to supply a 2400 3-layer SmartFlex line and a 2400 5-layer Barrier Flex line. The investment will increase Imaflex's capacity, with first line installation scheduled for the first half of 2023.

Multi-Color Corporation has acquired Korsini, an Izmir-based in-mold label solutions provider, expanding its IML network. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Paragon Films held a groundbreaking in April 2023 for a 70,000-square-foot expansion of its stretch film plant in Taylorsville, North Carolina.

Charter Next Generation plans a 200,000-square-foot specialty film expansion in Milton, Wisconsin, as part of a broader $270 million investment in Wisconsin.

Charlesbank Capital Partners' portfolio company BOX Partners acquired The Packaging Wholesalers, a nationwide packaging distributor, in a transaction announced April 25, 2023. Financial terms were not disclosed.

US-based EAM-Mosca, a subsidiary of Mosca GmbH, signed an exclusive sales and marketing agreement to supply Reisopack strapping systems and OEM parts in the US, Canada, Mexico and Brazil.

Glasgow-based Cullen Eco-Friendly Packaging announced plans to increase production to one billion plastic-free moulded fibre and corrugated packaging units per year, building its own patented machines and tooling amid rising demand.

Asia Industrial Group (01737) renewed its framework agreement with Guobang Huanmao, under which Guobang will supply packaging materials on request from April 1, 2023 to March 31, 2026. The agreement was signed on March 29, 2023 by an indirect wholly owned subsidiary.

Pac-Production Sweden Aktiebolag was named winner of the Region Värmland tender for take-away packaging materials, with a contracted value of 4,350,000 SEK over a 2+1+1 year term. The notice was published on March 29, 2023.

Packaging maker Quadpack has decided to implement a cloud-based production system from Accevo, including a Manufacturing Execution System, Advanced Planning and Scheduling tool and IoT hardware, across two factories in Spain and Germany. Full operation is expected by May of the following year.

Germany's Multivac is investing 6 million euros to expand its plant in Bulgaria, according to SeeNews. The article does not specify the exact location or the new capacity.

TricorBraun entered an exclusive agreement to supply BioBottles biodegradable plastic bottles to the nutraceutical industry in the US and Canada. The bottles use Symphony Environmental's d2w oxo-biodegradable technology, developed by Better Earth.

Crown Beverage Packaging is starting up a new module at its Mankato aluminum can plant that should increase end-making capacity by 65%. The plant supplies customers including Pepsi, Coca-Cola and Schell's Beer.

Graphic Packaging International announced a new facility in Waco, Texas, with a state-of-the-art coated recycled paperboard machine and 640,000 square feet of production and warehouse space valued at $1 billion. The company expects to create around 230 local jobs.

SCA's world's largest kraftliner machine entered service at its Obbola plant in Västerbotten, Sweden, as part of a SEK 7.5 billion expansion, with capacity rising from 450,000 to 725,000 tonnes a year. The machine was built by Voith.

Eviosys launched a three-piece rectangular can manufacturing line for luncheon meat packaging in Karacabey, Türkiye, backed by an investment of EUR 1.5 million.

Clayco, JB2 Partners and ElmTree Funds broke ground on WestRock's new 410,000-square-foot corrugated box plant in Longview, Washington. Production is due to begin in fall 2023 and create about 40 jobs.

Opal Packaging is building a A$140 million corrugated cardboard packaging facility in Wodonga, Victoria, with capacity of about 400 tonnes of finished boxes per day, due to be operational in October 2023.

Smurfit Kappa officially opened its expanded Pruszków plant in Poland on March 16, 2023, after a EUR 40 million investment that doubled production capacity and added a 12,000-pallet warehouse.

Toppan is building a new factory in the Czech Republic for retort food packaging film, investing about 14 billion yen, with production of recyclable resin film packaging planned from the end of 2024.

Sonoco Metal Packaging EMEA is opening a new plant in Thailand to produce 85-gram drawn aluminium cans for the local market, its first investment in Asia. The announcement was made on 16 March 2023.

Wipak has invested over £5 million in a new production line at its Welshpool site, expected to create 50 new jobs. The investment is reported in a 14 March 2023 article about a related warehouse contract.

DS Smith is investing €34 million to modernise and expand its corrugated board plant in Arenshausen, Thuringia, with groundbreaking held for the works. The investment is part of about €120 million spent across three German sites and is expected to create new jobs.

ALPLA and Inden Pharma have formed a joint venture for pharmaceutical bottles, containers and closures made in clean rooms, combining five plants in Spain, Greece, Poland and Germany. The venture targets about 800 million packaging products in its first year.

Fujian China Tobacco Industrial announced that Huacai Printing and Shenzhen Guanwei Technology were the first and second selected suppliers for the 2023-2025 cigarette pack and carton packaging paper tender, with a total contract value capped at about CNY 23.76 million.

Canpack is starting up new final production lines at its Brzesko plant in Poland, which will lift can capacity to over 12 billion a year, with full operation expected by end of November.

Packaging designer and distributor TricorBraun signed an exclusive agreement to offer BioBottles' fully biodegradable bottles to nutraceutical companies in the US and Canada.

Miracle Coro Plast Private Limited was awarded a Rajasthan government tender by RCDF for corrugated fibre boxes packing 1 kg SMP pouches, with a contract value of INR 6.12 crore for 365 days.

Macfarlane Group PLC announced the acquisition of A.E. Sutton Limited, trading as Suttons Performance Packaging, a specialist protective packaging business.

Stora Enso completed the sale of its Maxau paper production site in Germany and related assets to Schwarz Produktion.

Family-owned corrugated packaging company Welch Packaging acquired Nashville Box, a corrugated packaging supplier.

Liverpool-area logistics firm SSO Logistics Ltd signed a 12-month distribution deal with St Helens packaging supplier Venturepak, which makes injection-moulded food-safe plastic containers, using its Pallet-Track network.

Mauser Packaging Solutions opened a new manufacturing facility in the Haiyan Economic Development Zone near Shanghai, producing 230L and 250L plastic industrial drums, including recycled-resin models.

Canadian packaging maker Sterling Packaging, backed by Druid Capital, is investing $6 million in a new 60,000 sq.ft building at Monroeville Industrial Park in Alabama, creating up to 55 jobs. The announcement was made on March 5, 2023.

SIG will build its first aseptic carton plant in India in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, investing about EUR 60 million (US$63.87 million) over 2023-2025 with up to four billion packs per year capacity and around 300 jobs in phase one.

Rengo Co., Ltd. acquired 70% of the shares of Nitto Danboru Co., Ltd., a corrugated packaging manufacturer based in Okegawa, Saitama Prefecture, making it a subsidiary.

Terinex Flexibles, part of the OGM Group, has started building a £8 million, 46,000 sq ft factory on a 3-acre site in Dove Valley Park near Derby. The OGM Holdings Group is funding the project, which will also move R&D from Oxford.

Constantia Flexibles signed an agreement to acquire Drukpol Flexo, a Polish flexible packaging company with 183 employees and two sites near Warsaw. Terms were not disclosed and completion is expected in Q2 2023, subject to competition clearance.

Berry Global Group completed its acquisition of Canadian plastics maker Pro-Western Plastics Ltd. for $87 million in March 2023, according to a MarketScreener report published May 3, 2023.

Klabin concluded the first stage of a 188-million-Reais ($35.7 million) investment at its Horizonte packaging unit in Ceará state, Brazil, installing a new corrugator that raises capacity to 100,000 tonnes of corrugated board per year from 20,000 tonnes.

Soenen Golfkarton's new corrugated cardboard factory in Lanklaar, Limburg started production on 1 March 2023 with a building of 132,500 m2. The site is one of the most modern in Europe and is expected to at least double the company's capacity.

South Africa's Competition Tribunal prohibited the proposed intermediate merger between Corruseal Group and Neopak Holdings, a decision reported on March 2, 2023 and issued the day before. The Commission said the merger would increase concentration in an already highly concentrated recycled containerboard market.

Finnish packaging manufacturer Huhtamaki has acquired full ownership of its Australian joint venture Huhtamaki Tailored Packaging (HTP), a food-service packaging wholesaler and distributor with several distribution centres. No value was given.

Deles Polska, the Polish subsidiary of Italy's Deles group, formally inaugurated a 7,000 m2 corrugated packaging plant in Gorzów Wielkopolski, Western Poland. The plant employs more than 100 staff and headcount is planned to double within three years.

Holland, Michigan-based Bradford Group completed an asset acquisition of Partitions Plus LLC, a corrugated partition manufacturer in Findlay, Ohio. Operations continue at the 80,000 sq ft Findlay facility under former co-founder Ben Riblet.