The European Union was a very strong buyer of all paper/cardboard grades in February, the latest HMRC data shows.
For OCC, exports fell in February compared to January, although with only a drop of 9,000 tonnes, this could potentially be explained by the shorter month. A total of 183,766 tonnes was exported in February, down from 192,092 tonnes in January.
But both mixed and news & pams were stronger than the month before. For mixed, 167,974 tonnes left the UK compared to 144,895 tonnes in January. While a big increase was seen for news & pams, reaching 36,468 tonnes in February from 26,391 tonnes the month before. This was the best month since October 2019 for this grade.
OCC – Commodity code 470710
India remained the key destination for OCC in February, although it dropped to 45,596 tonnes from 52,341 tonnes the month before. It was still the second best month since January 2021 though.
The EU also had a very strong February taking 43,844 tonnes, up from January’s 26,767 tonnes. Since we started collating this data in 2012, October 2021 has been the record month with 35,533 tonnes, but February easily exceeds this. Much of this went via the Netherlands (16,141 tonnes in February, 13,531 tonnes in January) and Germany (13,385 tonnes in February, 4,866 tonnes in January). France also increased its purchases of UK material (7,135 tonnes in February, 2,628 tonnes in January). Spain fell to 2,437 tonnes from 3,480 tonnes. But Poland was up to 1,923 tonnes from January’s 526 tonnes. Belgium bought 1,470 tonnes in February, up from 1,301 tonnes the month before.
Turkey was the next biggest buyer with 34,671 tonnes, down from 39,656 tonnes in January.
Malaysia fell to 18,140 tonnes in February from 28,930 tonnes the month before.
Vietnam followed with 14,439 tonnes down from 18,710 tonnes in January.
Indonesia was also down to 13,693 tonnes from 16,010 tonnes in the earlier month.
Thailand increased its purchases in February to 12,677 tonnes from 7,806 tonnes in January.
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 was just ahead of India as the largest buyer of mixed paper in February. A total of 47,015 tonnes went there compared to January’s 33,355 tonnes. This made February the best month since October.
Of this, 26,742 tonnes went to the Netherlands, up from 22,622 tonnes in January. This was followed by 12,400 tonnes purchased from Germany (4,634 tonnes in January). France was next (4,011 tonnes in February, 2,088 tonnes in January), then Spain (1,975 tonnes in February, 2,654 tonnes in January) and then Belgium (1,363 tonnes in February, 881 tonnes in January).
India was up to 46,791 tonnes in February compared to 39,575 tonnes in the previous month. This made it the best month for India since February 2021.
Thailand followed with 32,515 tonnes, increasing from January’s 20,577 tonnes.
Vietnam dropped in February to 28,422 tonnes from 31,652 tonnes the month before.
Indonesia was down just a little to 10,272 tonnes from 10,669 tonnes in January.
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
The EU remained the biggest buyer of this grade taking 20,496 tonnes, more than doubling from January’s 10,132 tonnes. Germany was behind this taking 13,525 tonnes, up from 5,749 tonnes in the previous month. Exports from the UK to the Netherlands also increased in February to 4,118 tonnes compared to January’s 3,037 tonnes. France was also up to 1,138 tonnes from January’s 234 tonnes.
India was the next best destination with 10,991 tonnes in February, falling from 12,612 tonnes in the month before.
Indonesia increased to 2,076 tonnes from 1,740 tonnes in the previous month.
Turkey was also up to 1,968 tonnes from 1,094 tonnes in January.
OCC historic data – all destinations
Mixed paper historic data – all destinations
N&P historic data – all destinations
