Away from Home products and their dispensers are dedicated to hotels, restaurants and catering (HoReCa), offices, industry and the healthcare sector; they include paper towels, toilet paper, napkins, facial tissue, dispensers and tissue products used in a working environment.
AFH tissue markets are worth approximately 10 billion Euros worldwide, with approximately 3 billion Euros in Europe.
The AFH products are often supplied to end customers through Wholesalers and Service Companies.
In the last years AFH Markets have seen an ongoing growth, even more than Consumer Products, particularly in the HoReCa segment.
This growth has been partially hampered by the global recession, as travel, hotels room occupancy and dining out have fallen in 2009. In the lasts months however the necessity of active prevention measures against the H1N1 flu has generated an increased awareness of the importance of hygiene, particularly for hand washing and drying.
This is driving a significant growth in the distribution of paper hand towels and their dispensers.
In fact a number of studies, including hygiene study by the University of Westminster, have confirmed that paper towels do remove bacteria during drying hands, while electric air dryers do increase the bacteria number on hands and the environment.
