UK mixed paper exports slump to a 2017 low in September

United Kingdom – Latest figures from the UK’s Confederation of Paper Industries and HM Revenue & Customs, which cover the period immediately following China’s clampdown on mixed paper imports, reveal that UK exports of this grade slumped to a meagre 100 423 tonnes in September – their lowest monthly level of the year to date.

The uncertainty surrounding mixed paper clearly shifted the trading emphasis on to OCC, UK shipments of which leapt 37.8% year on year to 279 957 tonnes; the total was more than 10 000 tonnes higher than the previous monthly peak for 2017 which was established back in March.

Across the first nine months of this year, the UK’s OCC shipments to all overseas destinations increased by 4.5% to 2.056 million tonnes whereas mixed paper deliveries to customers abroad declined 8.7% year on year to 1.09 million tonnes.

For all grades of recovered fibre, UK exports surged 28.5% in September to 423 866 tonnes whereas the year-to-date total was 1.1% lower than in 2016 at 3.583 million tonnes.

UK mills’ usage of recovered fibre amounted to 2.36 million tonnes across the first nine months of 2017 for a year-on-year increase of 1.5% while the country’s recovered fibre collection total of 5.863 million tonnes was within 500 tonnes of that for the same period last year.