The waning demand for recovered paper, especially from Germany, presented challenges for French recovered paper merchants in September. Owing to numerous plant downtimes across the European paper industry, mills were purchasing only very small volumes of ordinary recovered paper grades. This was a problem for French suppliers who rely on exports to neighbouring countries.
In France itself, the situation was not as tense. Market participants reported a few brief production stoppages at paper factories in September, but most of these were scheduled maintenance shutdowns. Nevertheless, paper producers in France also purchased less recovered paper due to the dwindling orders for new paper, reported several market participants. Other suppliers described order levels from French mills as still relatively normal.
All in all, however, there was a noticeable decline in demand for the ordinary recovered paper grades on the French market. Consequently, stocks held by suppliers swelled in September and prices for mixed paper, supermarket paper and board, and old corrugated containers (OCC) tumbled again significantly....
