Page 46 from: January / February 2013

46 January/February 2013

m a r k e t a n a l y s i s

Paper
Closed: January 22 2013

Trade monitors US port
strike threat

Not least because of strong demand from
China ahead of the country’s New Year
celebrations in February, OCC export
prices have traced an upward path in the
early weeks of 2013. However, all eyes
are focused on the potential for
disruption to recovered fibre shipments
from the USA given that, at the time
of writing, dock workers on the
East Coast and Gulf of Mexico are
locked in contract negotiations with
the various port authorities.

Europe
Slow flow
Difficult winter weather conditions across
many parts of Europe and persistently
slow economic activity have conspired to
limit the flow of the lower grades of
recovered fibre into merchant processors’
facilities. There is not much OCC available
and stocks are not very high.
Demand in Europe was slow in the final
month of 2012 owing to the year-end

holidays, and the continent’s mills basi-
cally kept their prices stable in Decem-
ber and January. There was an improve-
ment in the OCC price for the Far East
at the beginning of January, but a fall
then ensued as a result of the US dollar
exchange rate. Mixed papers have fol-
lowed the same pattern.
In addition to dollar movements,
demand has also been influenced by
the approach of Chinese New Year.

Furthermore, some Chinese mills expe-
rienced import licence problems at the
end of 2012 – but this situation has
apparently been resolved.
For the deinking grades too, incoming
volumes in Europe have been slow of
late; demand is healthy at home and
some interest has been shown in Asia
– albeit at very low prices.
Meanwhile, demand within Europe is
described as reasonable to good for

most of the middle grades, with India
and other destinations in Asia also in
the market at slightly lower prices.
Prices in Europe have tended to stabi-
lise or rise slightly. In common with
most forms of recovered fibre, incom-
ing volumes of the middle grades have
been rather laboured owing to gener-
ally muted economic activity.
As for the higher grades, there is not
much material available, demand is
good and prices are quite stable – but
with a tendency to go a little higher.
For exports to China and elsewhere in
the Far East, shipping rates have held
steady and the pressure to obtain
space on vessels has eased slightly.
Also for India, freight rates have been
stable and container availability is
becoming less tense.

North America
Gradual increase
At the very beginning of 2013, recov-
ered fibre prices seemed to be holding
steady; however, OCC  levels have
gradually increased with each new
week. The strongest activity has come

China hinting at recovered paper
standards
National standards for recovered paper could well be on the horizon in
China, recycling experts announced at the China International Recycled
Fiber Conference held in Beijing last month.
‘Chinese recovered paper consumption was only 7.6 million tonnes in 1994
before exploding to 71 million tonnes in 2011,’ notes market specialist RISI,
which sponsored the event together with the Chinese Resources Recycling
Association. Over the last ten years, China has registered a 260% increase
in recovered paper demand.
‘But China’s recovered paper industry is still in an early stage,’ underlined
the association’s President, Jiang Xingsan. According to China Daily, Mr
Xingsan told the 400 delegates in his keynote speech that low-level com-
petition and the lack of market regulation and industry standards ‘are
problems that need to be dealt with in the future’.

RI_1-Analysis Paper.indd 46 28-01-13 16:14