September brought improvements to exports of OCC, mixed and news and pams compared to August, according to the latest HMRC data.
For OCC and mixed, the story though was of weakening European exports and a rebound from India in particular.
While India also bought more news and pams in September, so too did Europe.
In total, 158,739 tonnes was exported in September, which was an improvement on August’s 146,548 tonnes. August had been the weakest month of the year so far, but only April had seen less tonnes move abroad than September.
Mixed improved to 105,846 tonnes in September, from just 80,038 tonnes in August. In the first six months of 2022, an average of 139,554 tonnes was exported each month, so even despite this improvement it remains low compared to January to June 2022.
It was a reasonable month for news and pams exports though, reaching 30,701 tonnes in September, from 23,347 tonnes in August. This was the first time exports had breached 30,000 tonnes since May.
OCC – Commodity code 470710
India was the main destination for OCC in September, reaching 31,725 tonnes compared to just 10,379 tonnes in August and a very low 6,964 tonnes in July.
Since reaching a peak of 38,356 tonnes in June, exports to Vietnam have been gradually easing back. But with a total of 31,372 tonnes in September, it was only just behind India. Exports to Vietnam in August had been 32,396 tonnes.
Malaysia was next with 26,780 tonnes, increasing from 20,446 tonnes in August.
Since May, the EU as a whole had been the top destination for OCC exports but fell to fourth in September with 24,661 tonnes, dropping from 40,109 tonnes in August. Exports to the Netherlands almost halved to 7,975 tonnes (14,030 tonnes in August), and Germany was similar with 6,773 tonnes in September (14,540 tonnes in August). France increased a touch to 5,984 tonnes (5,685 in August). Belgium dropped a little to 1,903 tonnes (2,319 tonnes in August).
Indonesia came next with 16,228 tonnes in September, down from 19,942 tonnes in the previous month.
Thailand was up to 14,821 tonnes, compared to August’s 8,474 tonnes.
Turkey was the only other major destination for OCC in September, taking 12,015 tonnes, which increased from 9,412 tonnes in August.
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
India rebounded to 35,666 tonnes in September from 14,516 tonnes in August.
The EU lost its crown as the main destination that it has held since May falling to 25,260 tonnes in September from 31,041 tonnes in August. The Netherlands continued to be the leading nation with 13,999 tonnes, down from 17,166 tonnes in August. Germany was also lower with 5,440 tonnes compared to 8,577 tonnes the month before. Sweden has emerged as a destination with 1,866 tonnes in September, and very consistently 1,866 tonnes in August. France increased to 1,684 tonnes in September, from 1,273 tonnes the month before. Belgium was almost unchanged with 1,216 tonnes, compared to August’s 1,236 tonnes.
Vietnam was next with 18,370 tonnes, increasing from 11,643 tonnes in August.
Indonesia followed buying 10,607 tonnes in September, compared to 6,607 tonnes in the previous month.
Thailand was almost identical importing 10,599 tonnes of mixed, which was an increase from August’s 6,668 tonnes.
Taiwan fell to 4,100 tonnes in September, from 5,425 tonnes in the month before. This means Taiwan has now bought more than 2,000 tonnes in the last three months. While it had dipped in before, this is a trend. Is it a new destination or just a temporary thing?
Malaysia increased to 2,125 tonnes, from 1,211 tonnes in August.
Pakistan dropped to 1,258 tonnes in September, down from 1,723 tonnes in August.
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, the EU remained the key destination for news and pams in September.
A total of 16,882 tonnes was sent to our continental cousins, up from 14,777 tonnes in August. Of this, 13,096 tonnes went to Germany, which was an increase on 10,859 tonnes in the previous month. A further 2,299 tonnes went to the Netherlands, up from August’s 2,172 tonnes.
India also increased its purchases with 10,699 tonnes in September, up from 6,104 tonnes in August.
Turkey bought 1,213 tonnes, after taking just 945 tonnes the month before.
Full historic data is available on Recycling Insights
