Weak demand played a central role in shaping the British recovered paper market in August. Demand in the corrugated board business has plummeted in the UK as in other European markets, and stocks of both recovered paper and finished paper are high throughout the supply chain. Many packaging paper manufacturers in Continental Europe are currently taking downtime in response to high costs, subdued demand and the EU’s pressure to reduce natural gas consumption.
Things were no better in Asia: China’s economy was underperforming expectations, so demand for packaging was lower than projected, too. This turn of events is radiating to other countries in the region. Demand from India, in particular, was described as weak.
Prices for mixed paper and board as well as for old corrugated containers (OCC) reflected the lack of interest from buyers. Merchants are concerned that the strike at the Felixstowe container port and potentially other British ports will further restrict the export of recovered paper to Asia and thus put even more pressure on recovered paper prices....
