Page 44 from: September 2006

M A R K E T A N A L Y S I S

Paper & Pulp

Asia gears up for further expansion

Closed: September 1 2006

Recycling International • September 2006 44

Europe
Mills keen to buy

The flow of lower grade material
into merchant processors’ yards has
been very slow. European mills have
been eager to snap up any available
tonnage while demand from Asian
buyers has been average-to-good.
Prices in Asia have remained stable
despite changes in sea freight rates
and the value of the US dollar.

As for the deinking grades, prices
in Europe have improved slightly
owing to an upturn in demand.

Prices for exports outside of Europe
are lower. Here too, the amount of
material arriving at processors’
yards is very low.

European and export demand for
the middle grades of recovered pa-
per has been decent across all the
grades. Buyers in India and in other
Asian countries have been paying
similar prices to consumers in Eu-
rope. However, some mills are pay-
ing extra for certain grades and the
market trend is upwards. A large
number of printers take downtime

The summer holiday period in Europe has continued to take

its toll on recovered paper generation. Demand has been

steady to firm but, in most instances, prices have not made

any significant gains. In North America, there has been a

dramatic increase in demand for deinking grades such as

pre- and post-consumer white ledger, white manifold and

coated book. In Asia, meanwhile, recovered paper buyers

are gearing up for an increase in newsprint production

capacity towards the end of this year.

during the summer and generation
levels have suffered as a result.

The higher grade market contin-
ues to characterised by stable prices.
Merchant processors are complain-
ing of low incoming volumes at a
time when demand is decidedly
healthy.

North America
Signs of weakening

With the North American econo-
my currently exhibiting some signs
of weaker growth, there are no ex-

pectations of a significant upturn in
the domestic recovered paper busi-
ness in the near future.

During August, there was cer-
tainly evidence of weakness in the
corrugated market. Domestic mills
appeared to hold sufficient stock
while supply and demand were fair-
ly well balanced. Orders from Asia –
and notably from India and China –
experienced a slight downturn
which led to a minor drop in prices.

Demand for the news grades re-
mains very strong both from North

RI_020 MA Paper 04-09-2006 17:09 Pagina 44