But, overall consumption of recovered grades within the UK plummeted in January 2004 compared to 2003 with a slump in the use of corrugated and kraft (cardboard) material. In contrast paper and board production reached 518,714 tonnes in January, up by 4,000 tonnes on January 2003 which appears to signal that the UK is using more virgin fibre.
The newsprint increase is largely down to the start-up in November 2003 of new de-inking facilities at the Shotton Newsprint mill in North Wales which has now converted from using a mixture of recovered paper and wood pulp to only using recovered material. The project has been supported by the Waste and Resources Action Programme.
Stock
The Shotton effect in January also meant a reduction in the amount of stock held by UK mills. At the end of the month the three mills – Shotton, Aylesford and Bridgewater – had 53,216 tonnes in stock, a reduction of 17.2% on December 2003.
However, the stock figure for January 2004 is still higher than in January 2003 but will be more swiftly eaten into.
Any pressure on recovered newsprint stocks could see mills urgently seeking more supplies and this will add to the price pressures that are currently being seen in the international market.
One senior newsprint expert said that the outlook for the sector was positive at the moment. “Collections are starting to increase and the good news is also that sales of newsprint have been extremely robust.”
Knock
The newsprint sector took a knock after the September 11 attacks in 2001 with newspaper pagination down. Figures for last year are thought to show that demand was down 4% in the UK although the situation in the US was worse with newsprint demand down by 15%.
Other grades
In other grades, the January figures for corrugated and kraft show that only 172,599 tonnes was consumed by cardboard mills, a figure 16.9% down on 2003. The consumption of mixed grades remained static.
Mill orders are thought to have been generally low in January this year with the export market sucking out large volumes of old-KLS (used cardboard). Some higher prices are now being paid by UK mills to ensure they have sufficient material as order books improve, although the prices are seen by some as simply catching up with Continental prices for recovered grades.
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