The weakest paper exports we have recorded occurred in May 2020, according to the latest data from HMRC.
In the case of OCC and news & pam, exports were particularly poor, while mixed paper exports also fell.
OCC – Commodity code 470710
The weakest paper exports we recorded was a reflection of how poor OCC exports were in May.
Just 118,784 tonnes were sent from UK ports in May 2020, compared to 143,353 tonnes in April, which was itself a poor month.
Turkey was the primary destination with 50,359 tonnes in May up from 47,999 tonnes a month earlier. In a month of negatives, at least the apparent continued demand from Turkey remains a positive.
After that Malaysia was next best with 21,322 tonnes, down a touch on April’s 23,750 tonnes.
As a whole, Europe was next with 15,974 tonnes up from 13,219 tonnes a month earlier. France took the lion’s share of this with 9,722 tonnes more than April’s 6,500 tonnes. After France, the Netherlands saw 3,938 tonnes in its ports, while 1,159 tonnes went to Germany.
The challenge of getting material to India due to Covid-19 restrictions saw just 8,950 tonnes go there, down from 16,568 tonnes in April and 57,101 tonnes in March.
China imported 6,700 tonnes, down from 8,841 tonnes in April and represents the fourth month in a row that its tonnage has declined.
A total of 5,172 tonnes went to Vietnam in May, lower than April’s 14,379 tonnes.
This was followed by 4,694 going to Thailand, again down from April’s 11,094 tonnes.
The last of the key destinations was Indonesia which imported 3,965 tonnes in May, which was a reduction on 5,752 tonnes in April.
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
Total exports of mixed paper dropped to 74,687 tonnes in May from 103,336 tonnes the month before.
As a whole, the EU was the main market for this grade taking 26,623 tonnes, which was an improvement on April’s 21,830 tonnes.
Germany was the primary market with 12,026 tonnes, more than April’s 8,814 tonnes.
A further 7,364 tonnes was sent into the Netherlands, up from 6,060 tonnes the month before. France with 4,105 tonnes was an improvement on April’s 3,708 tonnes, while more also went to Belgium in May with 2,218 tonnes compared to 1,725 a month earlier.
India was next best after the EU with 20,495 tonnes, although this was almost half of April’s 39,312 tonnes.
Exports to Turkey from the UK fell to 6,727 tonnes from 9,496 tonnes in April.
Those to Vietnam also dropped to 6,050 tonnes more than half of April’s 12,755 tonnes.
While mixed paper imports into Thailand fell to 4,400 tonnes from 8,035 tonnes a month earlier.
Taiwan took 4,125 tonnes, which was actually more than April’s 3,840 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
Exports of this commodity code were very, very low in May at just 7,944 tonnes in total, down from 12,250 tonnes in April. In the prior months of this year, exports had been in the region of 25,000 to 33,000 tonnes per month.
A total of 3,645 tonnes was exported to European nations in May only slightly lower than April’s 3,797 tonnes.Of this, 1,662 tonnes went to the Netherlands and 852 tonnes to France.
India was the only other key destination with 2,472 tonnes down from 4,258 tonnes in April.
OCC historic data – all destinations
Mixed paper historic data – all destinations
N&P historic data – all destinations
