Page 85 from: October 2015

83October 2015

Paper

Textiles
Closed: September 29, 2015

‘Linerboard and medium inventories are
high already and prices are dropping,’
comments the same broker. And a coun-
terpart in the north west of the USA
ventures: ‘I wouldn’t be surprised to see
some mills take downtime during the
fourth quarter to bring down their con-
tainerboard inventories.’ The high
demand season in the agricultural sec-
tor has come to a close, further weaken-
ing containerboard prospects, he adds.
According to exporters, ocean shipping
rates are at or near historical lows – par-
ticularly on the West Coast. It has not
prompted a boom in buying from China,
although US OCC shipments to this
Asian giant were up almost 14%
through July relative to the first seven
months of 2014. Traders report that
major Chinese importers were success-
fully pushing OCC prices downwards in
September and more of the same is
expected in October.
Meanwhile, prices for chemical deinking
grades such as sorted office paper have
begun to tumble.

Asia
Most grades holding up well
September proved to be a more stable
month than most packers, traders and
exporters expected. With poor demand
from India and Indonesia as well as
weaker orders from China, one would

have anticipated a significant price drop
but only a few dollars were lost, spe-
cifically from mixed and OCC prices.
Most other grades held up well and are
showing no price differential compared
to August, mainly because of still-low
collection volumes and good demand
in key exporting regions.
However, the fear of lower prices is still
present, especially as German mills are
thinking about cuts of around Euro 10
per tonne. Countries in Asia appear to
be waiting for this to happen before
they start purchasing again.
The Indian market is slowly picking up
after two months of silence. However,
mills are looking for the lowest possible
prices (as always) and seem to be man-
aging to secure volume from various
sources such that no further drop is
anticipated.
Meanwhile, shipping lines have
announced price reductions of around
US$ 25-50 for most destinations.

By Mehdi Zerroug
(Framimex/France)

Contributing to the
Recovered Paper Market
Analysis:
• Melvin de Groot (Van Gelder

Recycling, the Netherlands)
• Mariëlle Gommans (Bel Fibres,

Belgium)
• Ken McEntee (Publisher of The

Paper Stock Report/USA)

Sorters’ concerns prove well-founded
Collections of originals were particularly productive this summer when com-
pared to the same season in previous years. Despite the annual holidays,
quantities collected during July and August offered the best yields. As most
sorters are closed during that period, the market has been offering enough
original material during September. Demand has remained stable and all
normal-quality originals are finding their markets as sorters prepare stock for
the winter period when collection levels are correspondingly low.
Sorters had expressed concern in the spring about negative signs in the end
markets for sorted goods – and these worries have now proved to be well-
founded. Despite an acceptable demand for used clothing, some traditional
markets have been slow to resume their orders, leading to price reductions
and payment problems.
Prices of wipers and of wool material for recycling have been showing similar
tendencies.

‘Endless’ recycling goal
for football boots
Sport Infinity is the name given to a new generation of sporting products to
be launched by Adidas which can be recycled ‘endlessly’ to help create new
products.
Funded by the European Commission and led by Adidas and a group of experts
from various sectors, the Sport Infinity project aims to use discarded sports
products combined with excess material from other industries. ‘Soccer shoes
could in future contain materials of any kind – from carbon fibres that are used
in aircraft construction to the fibres of the football boots used for scoring
during the last World Cup,’ confirms the company.
According to Gerd Manz, vice president of technology innovation at Adidas,
this is a ‘ground-breaking’ development for all football fans. ‘The time that
we have thrown away football boots is over. Instead, each pair of soccer shoes
is not just recycled but, according to individual requirements of the consumer,
recycled for completely new purposes.’

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