In December, prices for ordinary recovered paper grades have edged slightly lower in Germany. Many respondents reported that prices for mixed paper and supermarket paper and board were stable or declined slightly, slipping by as much as €5/t. In some cases, however, players reported reductions of €10, or even more. The price changes in any individual sale often depend on the previous price level, the regional market situation and the circumstances of the mill purchasing the material.
Prices on the German recovered paper market had already softened last month. In December, this downward price trend is likely to continue at a somewhat slower pace. Numerous paper mills are already idled or will be over year-end holidays, resulting in sluggish demand for recovered paper, especially the brown ordinary grades 1.02 and 1.04.
A few larger paper mills plan to continue operations until the end of the month, partly to take advantage of discounts on electricity grid charges.
For these buyers, securing sufficient inventories of recovered paper is a clear priority but could prove difficult, especially in light of the typical logistics logjams over the Christmas and New Year’s holiday season. Therefore, these mills had intensified their search for volumes and transport options in early December and were willing to pay more for both recovered paper and logistics, respondents told EUWID.
Subscribers can read the full market report and access the overview of the price changes in November for the individual recovered paper grades here:
