Exports from the UK of OCC and mixed paper were up in March, but news & pam saw a fall on February 2020, according to the latest HMRC data.
Indeed, for OCC March was the best month in over a year.
Of course, this month represents a mostly normal month with the effects of coronavirus lockdowns not kicking in until later in the month, but mostly in April (data will be published on this next month by HMRC).
OCC – Commodity code 470710
Despite low prices for OCC in March, ranging from £35 to £45 on our index, exports were highest for over a year in this month.
At a total of 220,316 tonnes, this was the highest volume for exports since January 2019.
India was the main buyer with 57,101 tonnes but this was actually lower than February’s 66,829 tonnes.
Turkey’s 48,803 tonnes in March though was massively up on 15,638 tonnes a month earlier.
This was followed by Malaysia, which took 35,425 tonnes, an increase on February’s 16,412 tonnes.
After this, Indonesia bought 22,772 tonnes of UK material, just a bit more than double February’s 11,158 tonnes.
Next up was Vietnam with 19,060 tonnes, although this was actually down on February’s 22,509 tonnes.
China came next with 15,906 tonnes exported there in March, but again this was down from 16,993 tonnes in February.
Pakistan continued to be a good destination with 7,302 tonnes, albeit down from 8,859 tonnes the month before.
EU countries followed with 4,942 tonnes with Netherlands taking 2,530 tonnes up from 3,207 tonnes in February. The EU as a whole imported 5,944 tonnes in that month.
Thailand followed with 4,425 tonnes, lower than February’s 5,870 tonnes.
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
This grade, like OCC, also increased in March from February. Exports of mixed paper reached a total of 101,384 tonnes up from February’s 76,032 tonnes.
India was the main buyer with almost two thirds of this at 64,345 tonnes, up from 50,060 tonnes in February.
EU nations bought 18,380 tonnes in March up from 16,477 tonnes a month earlier. Netherlands (6,343 tonnes up from 4,860 tonnes), Germany (6,093 tonnes down from 6,151 tonnes) and France (4,474 tonnes up from 4,210 tonnes) were the main destinations.
Indonesia’s 10,436 tonnes was a substantial increase on February’s 3,966 tonnes.
Vietnamese imports from the UK increased to 5,698 tonnes from 4,375 tonnes the month before.
Thailand took 5,493 tonnes in March – down from 5,850 tonnes in February.
Malaysia’s 5,464 tonnes was an increase on February’s 2,900 tonnes.
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
Unlike OCC and mixed paper, exports from the UK of news & pams were down in March to 28,619 tonnes compared to 33,287 tonnes in February.
Like those grades, India was also the dominant buyer of recovered newspapers and magazines taking 16,782 tonnes up from 14,673 tonnes in February.
The next best destination was the EU with 5,870 tonnes down from 6,867 tonnes in February. Of this, Spain took 2,002 tonnes (2,906 tonnes in February), Germany 1,570 tonnes (2,650 tonnes in February), and the Netherlands 1,413 (298 in February).
OCC historic data – all destinations
Mixed paper historic data – all destinations
N&P historic data – all destinations
