September saw relatively stable prices for the paper market, after prices softened in August.
Ongoing factors include the US tariffs which are affecting the Indian market and are also encouraging the introduction of cheap reels from export markets such as Canada and the Nordic countries. The categories affected are predominantly OCC and newsprint.
There are also reports that the Southeast Asia market has been pushing European prices down.
Pulp prices are currently very low – having almost halved from last year – which continues to have an effect across the industry.
Against this backdrop, letsrecycle.com has recorded largely minor declines or increases across all paper grades and have kept most prices stable for the month of September.
Exceptions to a month of stability
The exception to the month of stable prices is in Sorted Office Waste (SOW) and multigrade which both saw substantial decreases.
This can be attributed to very low European demand, which is unlikely to recover in the short term.
UK mills have also started cutting back in response to the low demand. One contact told Letsrecycle that both grades are proving “very difficult” to move.
Given the more challenging situation, Letsrecycle has reduced SOW and multigrade more significantly than other grades. They have been reduced by 5 and 10 respectively across both domestic and export pricing. The top range for domestic export has seen a change of -15.
Looking ahead
While the industry usually sees weaker pricing over summer largely due to European downtime, some in the industry told us that they worried prices are unlikely to bounce back in the coming months due to the ongoing abovementioned geopolitical factors.
They have also warned that his year’s declines were not in keeping with usual trends indicating a market situation out of the norm.
Mixed paper is currently stable but is forecasted to see decreases in the near future.
View our more detailed paper price index here.
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