Pen production: Faber-Castell with a decline in sales - business but profitable

Sales at pen manufacturer Faber-Castell have fallen, but the company remains profitable (archive image). Photo: Daniel Karmann/dpa

Stone. At the global pen and cosmetics manufacturer Faber-Castell, sales fell significantly in the past 2025/26 financial year. Revenues in euros fell by 6.7 percent to 562 million euros. Adjusted for currency effects, this means a decline of 3.9 percent. Nevertheless, the group of companies is still profitable, Faber-Castell announced in Stein near Nuremberg, without providing precise information on profit figures.

Strengthen “Made in USA”.

In the cosmetics division, Faber-Castell has expanded production at the US location in Elgin (Illinois) and wants to score more points on the US market in the future with the “Made in USA” label. Due to stronger US business, the company says it sees its sales and earnings development on track for the second half of the 2026/2027 financial year. The cosmetics business in Germany also promises tailwind.

Monastery stronghold of Franconia

Faber-Castell, together with the companies Staedtler and Schwan-Stabilo, is one of the three largest pen manufacturers in Germany. Because of the wave of digitalization, producers of writing and drawing instruments have been under pressure for years.

Faber-Castell operates its own production facilities in nine countries. With over two billion pencils and colored pencils per year and around 6,000 employees worldwide (including around 1,000 in Germany), Faber-Castell is, according to its own information, the most important manufacturer of wood-cased pencils.