Market Report

Occ locally up, in export unchanged but lower in Euro's and Pounds

NL-Tilburg, 9 March 2025

We should especially avoid mentioning what cannot be expected in our market reports. Because then it apparently does happen. Well, in this case it didn't matter, because it is to our advantage.
We did not expect price increases of € 20 pt or more for occ (kls). Yet this week it turned out that mill buyers in France, Spain and parts of Germany did not listen much to our prediction.
Indeed, prices there did increase by €20 per tonne for occ (cardboard). In the Benelux, they were much more cautious. A € 5 pt increase for now. But in the course of the month this may become a bit more, as some buyers are quoting weekly prices. Strange though, as we are closer to the ports here and volumes are therefore more searched for by Asian buyers.
On the other hand, in exports, prices did not move anymore this week. This was probably due to lower export prices for occ grades in the US, which was followed by the unexpectedly strong weakening of the dollar by more than 4% against the euro. Our British colleagues will feel it less, as the British Pound also plunged some 2% against the Euro, but even there the GBP/Dollar rate was still 1.23 over a week ago and now 1.29. With that, perhaps the euphoria about higher occ prices in the U.K. has also been tempered somewhat. But of course, in the meantime the whole month is still being loaded at the high export priced orders that were concluded last week. And it is waiting to see what the new month brings, with many mills being in the habit of ordering some extra volumes towards Easter with 4 days off. With perhaps some higher prices too.

Among tissue and graphic paper producers, however, the situation is different. At best, prices are unchanged, however, many buyers have reduced prices, some as much as €25 per tonne for certain grades, and there are also mills that have reduced intake considerably and apparently want to run down stocks rather than, as in the UK for low grades, take some more.
This leaves it an opaque market in which, as it seems, the prices of low grades on the one hand and middle and high grades on the other are increasingly moving towards each other. Back to normalisation, because where before there were differences of €30 to €50 per tonne between occ and deink news and pam, in recent years this had increased to at times as much as €100 to €150 per tonne. The price ratios between the different grades had become unbalanced, to put it euphemistically.

And our counterparts in the US? They experienced unchanged prices at the beginning of the month locally with a small increase here and there for mixed paper, also in exports, but nowhere near what we see in price increases here in Europe. Otherwise all occ grades the same, but cif prices export to India for occ down by $5-$10 per tonne.
On the other hand, several high grades were increased in price by $5-$10 per tonne both locally and in export. So quite different from what we experience here in Europe.
So, if we see a movement towards normalisation in price ratios, this is not yet the case in the price ratios between US and European prices. But probably that will happen as well.    

 

Price indication

Price indication in Europe for low grades of recovered paper, sorted, baled and ex works are now between € 40 and € 70 per tonne. These prices are depending on quality, available volume, region and loaded weight.

Look here at the Price chart >> 
  
The price chart gives an indication of the price  of mixed paper, separately collected, in the Netherlands free delivered mill over the last 10 years.
Scrolling over the top of the columns gives the exact price indication in Euro's per ton.