Stock Take

Ellie Donnelly: Smurfit sales drop points to a further easing of inflation

The Irish packaging giant’s results suggest that rising interest rates are starting to tame price rises

A decline in demand for boxes and packaging saw the Smurfit group’s sales volumes decline 6 per cent in the first half of the year

There is a growing sense in Europe that the inflation cycle has turned a corner. The latest positive signs of this came at the start of last week as Eurostat, the European statistics agency, released new figures which estimate inflation fell slightly in July to 5.5 per cent thanks to lower price increases for energy and food.

In Ireland, inflation is estimated to have moderated to less than 5 per cent in July – its ...