For many insiders on Italy’s recovered paper market, further price increases had seemed inconceivable, and yet merchants were now again charging more. Prices for virtually all grades edged higher again in June. The market for high grades and deinking grades is profoundly unbalanced, with many different prices and sometimes very substantial price hikes. That being said, ordinary recovered paper grades – which were already at record high prices – became a bit more expensive, as well.
Quite a few market players are baffled by the renewed rise in prices for ordinary recovered paper grades. After all, barely anything was headed to the Far East, and there were signs of the first markdowns for recycled corrugated case material – suggesting that an inflection point might be on the horizon.
Many experts believe that the latest recovered paper auction staged by the consortium Comieco in late May might have played a key role in shaping the price trend for the ordinary grades. Material was sold off at very high prices at this event – at the very same time when new prices for June were being negotiated on the open market. This coincidence had raised merchants’ expectations, unsettled buyers and generally rocked the boat, one insider said....
