Page 71 from: May 2012
71May 2012
Chairman/CEO of UK-based J & H Sales
(International) Ltd and President of the BIR
world recycling organisation’s Paper Division
– also revealed that US exports to China grew
at a significantly faster pace in 2011 than those
from Europe. US deliveries jumped just under
30% from 10.122 million tonnes in 2010 to
13.088 million tonnes the following year where-
as European shipments gained nearer 23% in
climbing from 6.712 million tonnes to 8.235
million tonnes.
The figures presented by Mr Baxi also showed
that China imported increased quantities last
year from other parts of the world: Japan, for
instance, upped its exports to China from 3.22
million tonnes in 2010 to 3.38 million tonnes
while volumes from Oceania climbed from
816 703 tonnes to 940 347 tonnes. And fellow
Asian countries supplied China with 1.634 mil-
lion tonnes of recovered fibre in 2011 versus
1.313 million tonnes in the previous year.
Tougher inspection regimes
In 2011, the year-on-year increase in US recov-
ered paper shipments to China (2.966 million
tonnes) equated to almost twice the gain
achieved by Europe (1.523 million tonnes) – a
growth imbalance on which Mr Baxi dwelt in
his speech entitled: ‘Can Europe meet the chang-
ing quality demands of the Asian paper mills?’
He identified quality as a factor in the decline of
Europe’s share of Chinese recovered paper
imports, with the USA making particularly
noticeable gains in market share over the last two
years at Europe’s expense. However, he also
emphasised that other factors could be playing
a part in the tonnages that China imports from
Europe, including: lower collection volumes in
Europe as a result of lower consumer spending/
recession; higher domestic collections in China
itself; and rising logistics costs.
If Europe does not succeed in improving the
quality of its recovered fibre exports, then the
inspection regimes adopted by importing
countries can be expected to become tougher,
according to Mr Baxi. He pointed out that
Indonesia is already in the process of reviewing
its inspection policies and that other Asian
countries could follow its example.
Underlining that quality is what consumers and
end users want, the speaker identified yield as the
crucial component. ‘The higher the yield, the bet-
ter the price should be – that’s the way the indus-
try should be thinking,’ he later told Recycling
International. ‘Extra payment enables investment
that will lead to even better quality.’ In his Düs-
seldorf speech, Mr Baxi also called for improved
communication between mill buyers and recy-
clers in order to build an understanding of the
end product manufactured and use of the fibre.
Optimistic assumption
Mr Baxi painted a largely positive picture of
recovered paper demand prospects, noting in
particular that some 3 billion people around
the world are moving into the middle class
band and are thereby increasing their con-
sumption. China’s recovered fibre imports – of
which OCC accounts for 58% and ONP for
24% at present – could soar to approaching 40
million tonnes by 2020, he noted. Meanwhile,
the country’s domestic fibre collection volumes
leapt 19% from 34.5 million tonnes in 2009
to 41.5 million tonnes the following year.
David Powlson, Principal of UK-based Pöyry
Management Consulting, also devoted a large
proportion of his presentation to developments
in the world’s largest recovered paper importing
nation. ‘Less than one third of the packaging
paper apparently consumed in China is disposed
of in China – exports are driving the manufac-
turing sector,’ he pointed out. ‘So we cannot
count on China to significantly increase its col-
lection rate. In effect, the adjusted paper collec-
tion rate in China is not far behind Europe. It’s
optimistic to assume it can be kept at current
levels, let alone increased – especially when you
consider the low per-capita paper consumption.’
One of his graphs suggested the adjusted paper
collection rate in China is currently around 62%.
He added: ‘Total volumes collected in China will
still go up, but not enough to satisfy the expect-
ed future growth in demand.’ According to his
assessment of recovered paper demand develop-
ments in China, domestically sourced fibre will
amount to around 70 million tonnes per annum
by the end of the decade while imports will add
in a further 39 million tonnes per year.
‘A list of products’
A revision of the EN643 European list of standard
grades of recovered paper was begun three years
ago, and an update on progress towards comple-
tion of this venture formed the basis of the pres-
entation made in Düsseldorf by Merja Helander,
President of the European Recovered Paper Asso-
ciation and also Director of Lassila & Tikanoja
in Finland. The official document has been sent
to the appropriate CEN Technical Committee, it
was confirmed, ‘and if the procedure moves on
without any delay in CEN, we will have the new
EN643 ready by the end of 2012’.
Commercial drivers behind the decision to
revise the document included a need to: revise
the grade descriptions; delete old/add new
grades; define unwanted materials in each
grade; and remove barriers to recovered paper
trading. The most fundamental change is that
the new EN643 will constitute ‘a list of prod-
ucts’, thus consigning the notion of ‘waste
paper’ to history in Europe. Also, the document
will contain details of 95 grades as opposed to
the 67 in its predecessor. ‘A limit of 1.5% non-
paper components is set for end-of-waste mate-
rials and is therefore in this revision, as well as
tolerance levels of unwanted materials,’ it was
also noted in Ms Helander’s presentation.
Reinhold Schmidt: ‘It looks good,
although there is not only
sunshine.’
Ranjit Baxi: ‘The higher the yield,
the better the price should be.’
David Powlson: ‘Total volumes
collected in China will still go
up, but not enough to satisfy the
expected future growth in
demand.’
Merja Helander believes the
revised EN643 European list of
standard grades of recovered
paper could be ready later this
year.
US exports to China grew at a significantly faster pace in 2011 than
those from Europe.
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