Relentless gains in UK recovered paper exports

United States – UK recovered paper exporters have been rewriting the history books in early 2016, shipping out more material in February than in any previous month. This feat follows hard on the heels of an all-time-high export performance in 2015 when 4.88 million tonnes was dispatched to customers overseas.

The UK’s February export total of 529 993 tonnes represented an increase of around 5% over the previous record of 505 539 tonnes which was established back in January 2012. UK shipments across the first two months of 2016 amounted to 972 893 tonnes for a gain of 24.2% over January-February 2015, according to latest data from the Confederation of Paper Industries and HM Revenue & Customs.

UK collections of recovered paper climbed almost 9% to 1.476 million tonnes in the first two months of this year whereas domestic mills’ usage slumped 16.6% to 515 625 tonnes. Year on year, the country’s paper and board production was 9.2% lower than in the first two months of 2015 at 633 597 tonnes.