Recycling export report: paper (January 2018)

March 16, 2018

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Container — A container ready to be loaded for shipping

The latest export data is of particular interest as it represents the first month under which the Chinese ban of mixed paper was enforced.

And the results are surprising. See more below for more information.

The data for January is also interesting because of the purchasing patterns of Vietnam and India and an unusual month for China.

OCC – commodity code 470710

According to the latest HMRC export data, a total of 236,540 tonnes was exported from the UK in January 2018.

This was an improvement on the 229,315 tonnes exported in December, and also much better than January 2017’s 212,938 tonnes.

But the split of where the material was being sent was unusual in January this year.

OCC key destinations (47071000)

wdt_ID	Date	China	Vietnam	India	Indonesia	EU
1	01/12/2017	169,797,238	34,109,420	8,423,207	6,773,072	6,969,379
2	01/11/2017	141,195,914	24,491,024	13,601,647	8,683,621	6,358,291
3	01/10/2017	92,401,545	50,490,531	11,873,555	12,380,518	13,695,821
4	01/09/2017	220,831,969	22,871,385	12,628,455	3,961,079	8,304,184
5	01/08/2017	117,351,874	16,737,793	9,619,311	3,816,526	9,572,395
6	01/07/2017	145,445,005	7,086,910	5,253,257	2,246,658	7,136,389
7	01/06/2017	233,535,331	4,335,207	7,572,675	135,975	14,069,860
8	01/05/2017	181,070,651	14,451,740	14,406,892	818,736	5,455,701
9	01/04/2017	210,157,209	17,300,095	19,477,521	13,606,232	8,853,811
10	01/03/2017	232,512,036	10,464,640	10,429,028	8,800,361	3,825,716

A total of 130,276 tonnes was sent to China in the first month of this year, down from 169,797 tonnes in December, and reflects perhaps the restricted import quotas that have been reported since the beginning of the year.

Indeed, this is a decent fall from 177,995 tonnes exported from the UK to China in January 2017.

So where has all this extra tonnage gone?

Well Vietnam’s 55,726 tonnes was the best month on record, beating the previous high of 50,490 tonnes seen in October 2017.

It was also a dramatic increase on December’s 34,109 tonnes, and of course, vastly better than 6,694 tonnes exported in January 2017.

But India was also a major buyer of OCC in January taking 33,382 tonnes.

This blows out of the water the previous high we have seen since collecting this data at the beginning of 2012. In April 2017, 19,477 tonnes was exported to India, which represented the previous high.

In December, just 8,423 tonnes was shipped to India, and in January 2017 12,191 tonnes was exported there, so this is a huge jump in exports compared to the norm.

Indonesia was the next strongest destination with 8,511 tonnes up from 6,773 tonnes in December. This was also an improvement on January 2017 when 5,900 tonnes was exported.

Europe’s 6,410 tonnes was the next best, but was a slight fall on December’s 6,969 tonnes. But this was much better than January 2017 when just 3,328 tonnes was dispatched to Europe.

The Netherlands received the lion’s share of the material with 3,936 tonnes in January.

Mixed paper – commodity code 470790

With this commodity code now banned by the Chinese Government, you’d expect exports there to have fallen to a trickle right?

Well that wasn’t the case.

Mixed paper key destinations (47079010)

wdt_ID	Date	China	Vietnam	India	Indonesia	EU total
1	01/12/2017	22,529,805	5,767,421	16,168,213	28,701,760	15,069,808
2	01/11/2017	21,525,899	6,776,878	21,513,241	32,511,340	19,241,687
3	01/10/2017	9,593,975	4,340,760	14,774,368	54,498,670	24,596,269
4	01/09/2017	37,134,676	3,672,400	5,658,543	17,281,140	27,499,171
5	01/01/2018	19,743,449	5,635,360	26,605,749	18,178,619	22,555,181
6	01/02/2018	16,615,169	6,738,460	37,931,747	14,731,060	23,951,039
7	01/03/2018	9,506,604	3,401,120	62,254,124	18,293,150	30,951,364
8	01/04/2018	12,467,300	6,865,830	43,863,425	16,487,850	32,221,347
9	01/05/2018	20,530,708	7,271,480	31,540,048	8,371,720	31,144,679
10	01/06/2018	17,873,411	4,860,900	21,463,876	23,196,375	29,530,427

China took 19,743 tonnes in January, down from 22,529 tonnes in December. This is still a surprise, but could be down to delayed data.

India was the largest destination with 26,605 tonnes exported from the UK to there in January, up from 16,168 tonnes in December.

Next best was Europe with 22,555 tonnes, again up from December’s 15,069 tonnes.

However, exports to Indonesia fell in January to 18,178 tonnes from 28,701 tonnes the month before.

Shippings of mixed paper to Vietnam were largely stable in January at 5,635 tonnes, from 5,767 tonnes in the last month of 2017.

N&P key destinations (470730)

China was the key market for news & pam in January with exports from the UK to there reaching 8,524 tonnes from 4,109 tonnes in December.

Next best was Europe taking 6,699 tonnes, down from 7,465 tonnes in December.

This was followed by Indonesia with 2,193 tonnes, up from 1,196 tonnes a month earlier.

Exports to Hong Kong fell in January to 1,958 tonnes from 2,891 tonnes in December.

N&P key destinations (470730)

wdt_ID	Date	China	Hong Kong	India	Indonesia	EU total
1	01/12/2017	4,109,684	2,891,240	5,750,650	1,196,290	7,208,623
2	01/11/2017	22,701,293	854,064	6,427,402	2,439,980	6,360,676
3	01/10/2017	9,878,248	2,237,977	4,495,196	4,133,030	7,631,169
4	01/09/2017	10,441,460	593,225	1,422,481	2,950,660	7,715,215
5	01/01/2018	8,524,061	1,958,580	7,465,626	2,193,538	6,699,157
6	01/02/2018	8,068,680	1,397,100	6,475,890	3,724,600	6,653,235
7	01/03/2018	7,895,400	2,116,520	16,849,145	2,073,660	6,505,887
8	01/04/2018	7,804,741	2,645,300	14,271,690	8,301,805	6,904,991
9	01/05/2018	17,523,240	303,650	8,586,135	1,655,540	7,265,323
10	01/06/2018	13,436,260	3,619,580	5,707,480	2,799,660	2,028,904