CEPI – the Confederation of European Paper Industries – reports that in Europe, 1999 ended with a flourish and this impetus was carried through into 2000.
Record production in Europe
In 2000 paper and board production ended the year up by 5.6% compared to 1999. During 2000, CEPI member countries produced just over 90 million tonnes of paper and board, and this represents an all-time record level of output. The year 2000 was a first in that CEPI countries together produced more during a year than the USA.
CEPI members come from 18 countries (13 European Union member states plus Norway and Switzerland with three associate members, Hungary, the Czech and Slovak republics) and include about 1,000 pulp, paper and board-producing companies across Europe, from small and medium-sized enterprises to multinationals.
Output of pulp also increased in 2000. Total production, of both integrated plus market pulp, reached 40.7 million tonnes, an increase of 5.5%. The production figures for the first half of 2001 were slightly lower than in the same period of 2000. However, the overall volumes remained at higher levels than in earlier years, indicating how exceptional the performance was during the first half of 2000.
The trend of paper and board usage in the CEPI area closely tracked changes to GDP in 2000. Consumption of paper and board rose by 4.3% in 2000, an increase of 3.5 million tonnes to 84.1 million tonnes. Exports to outside the CEPI area increased by 4.7% to 10.2 million tonnes, whilst imports into the area rose by 8.2% to 5.1 million tonnes. The proportion of total deliveries exported remained unchanged at 11.4%.
Recovered up by 6%
Consumption of recovered paper continued to increase. Utilisation was up by 6% at 41.1 million tonnes. Apparent collection also increased, by 3.9%, to just below 43 million tonnes.
To put the UK in perspective, 4.9 million tonnes of recovered paper was used with a collection rate of 41%. And, the figures for the United States are very similar to the EU with a 48% recovery rate. The US recovered 49.4 million tonnes last year with 39.8 million tonnes being consumed domestically with 10.3 millions tonnes being exported.
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