The downward trend in recovered paper prices has come to a halt in Germany in September. Market participants report that prices for the bulk grades supermarket paper and board and mixed paper have mostly moved sideways this month. Upward or downward adjustments have been observed only in isolated cases and depended on the previous month’s price level and specific local conditions.
The price reductions initially sought by paper industry buyers for September have thus not been implemented. Recovered paper demand on the German market continues to be described as weak, given the persistently high number of machine downtimes and temporary production cuts.
However, this is being offset by equally limited supply. Collection volumes have declined further due to the summer holiday season.
Elsewhere in Europe, significant volumes of recovered paper are currently being exported to the Far East, meaning that less recovered paper is being offered on the German market.
By contrast, exports from Germany itself remain muted. Despite low freight rates, the prices achieved in export sales are at best on a par with prices on the domestic market. According to some market participants, concerns that price cuts would increase the outflow of recovered paper to export markets may have contributed to the price stability in September.
In August, however, the decrease in prices continued on the German market, albeit – as expected – at a significantly slower pace than in the preceding months.
Subscribers can access the overview of the price changes in August for the individual recovered paper grades here:
