The last month of 2021 saw increased volumes of OCC and mixed paper exported, but less news & pams.
This is according to the latest HMRC data.
A total of 185,433 tonnes of OCC was exported in December compared to 179,563 tonnes in November.
For mixed, 142,239 tonnes left the UK in December compared to November’s 137,779 tonnes.
But exports of news & pams fell to 31,561 tonnes in December, from 35,835 tonnes in November.
OCC – Commodity code 470710
Turkey was easily the dominant destination in December 2021 with it taking 59,469 tonnes in December up from 51,758 tonnes in November. This was the best month for Turkey since December 2019.
Interestingly, December seems to have been one of the strongest months for Turkish exports over the past three years.
The entire EU was next best after Turkey with 34,424 tonnes, hardly changed from November’s 34,577 tonnes. With 12,001 tonnes in December, the Netherlands was the best European destination, although this was lower than November’s 13,476 tonnes. Germany increased UK imports to 9,877 tonnes from 8,620 tonnes in November. France though dropped to 5,328 tonnes in December compared to 6,472 tonnes a month earlier. Spain was next with 3,512 tonnes in December, up from November’s 2,423 tonnes. Poland was up a touch to 2,103 tonnes in comparison to November’s 2,057 tonnes.
India wasn’t far behind the EU importing 32,582 UK tonnes of OCC in December, up from 27,368 tonnes in November.
Malaysia dropped to 23,220 tonnes in December from 28,528 tonnes in November.
Indonesia was up though, jumping to 12,839 tonnes in December compared to November’s 7,042 tonnes.
Vietnam was down a little in December with 11,300 tonnes, from 11,568 tonnes in the preceding month.
Thailand fell to 9,594 tonnes in the last month of 2021 up from 15,595 tonnes in November.
Despite it remaining illegal, Chinese imports fell to 1,500 tonnes from 2,250 tonnes in the month before. The other weird thing about this data is that since August when Chinese data started to appear, the numbers are perfectly rounded (so August: 1,750, September: 3,000, October: 3,250, November: 2,250, December: 1,500). Very strange.
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 |
Mixed paper – Commodity code 470790
The EU remained the primary destination for mixed paper in December buying 40,694 tonnes, albeit this was down on November’s 43,770 tonnes.
Exports to the Netherlands were 22,639 tonnes, down from 26,508 tonnes in November. Germany was sightly up to 10,214 tonnes from 10,027 tonnes the month before. France also dropped to 4,510 tonnes compared to November’s 5,651 tonnes. Spain though was up to 1,431 tonnes, from just 285 in November.
Outside of the EU, India was the main destination with 28,703 tonnes, down from 24,080 tonnes in the preceding month.
Imports into Thailand in December dropped to 25,703 tonnes from November’s 36,579 tonnes.
Vietnam saw a big increase to 22,744 tonnes from 9,524 tonnes in November.
Indonesia was barely changed in December taking 15,466 tonnes of UK mixed, just a touch above November’s 15,255 tonnes.
Exports from the UK to Malaysia were 5,779 tonnes in December, an increase from 4,539 tonnes in the month before.
Pakistan was up to 1,186 tonnes from 941 in November.
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 |
News & Pams – Commodity code 470730
Exports of this grade to the EU dropped to 18,793 tonnes in December 2021 from 24,920 tonnes in November. Germany took 11,370 tonnes in this month, lower than November’s 18,303 tonnes. The Netherlands was also down to 2,660 tonnes, compared to 4,016 in November. France increased though in December to 2,500 tonnes from 1,415 in the preceding month. Austria was also up to 1,172 tonnes from November’s 662 tonnes.
Indian imports of news & pams dropped to 6,300 tonnes from November’s 8,090 tonnes.
Malaysia jumped to 2,949 tonnes from just 757 in November.
Exports to Indonesia also increased to 1,416 tonnes in December compared to 642 in the month before.
Turkey more than doubled in December to 1,390 tonnes from 654 tonnes in November.
OCC historic data – all destinations
Mixed paper historic data – all destinations
N&P historic data – all destinations
