Posted on 11/07/2012 in category Paper
BIR World Mirror on Recovered Paper / Quarterly Report - July 2012
PRESIDENT’S REPORT featuring Asia
by Ranjit Baxi, J&H Sales International Ltd
The crisis of confidence continued to hold centre stage and even became more dominant during the second quarter. The Euro-debt crisis and weakening global economic confidence continued to dampen European export aspirations.
Businesses were left to grapple with the unknown - not only the Euro-zone debt crisis but also weakening Asian growth forecasts, turmoil in the financial markets, freight rate increases and even geo-political risks are now a consideration. Filling order books at the right price has remained a big challenge.
April began with shipping lines announcing increases of US$ 200 per 40-foot container, comprising freight rate increases plus the introduction of surcharges, which continued to rise during May and June. During the quarter, there was an overall freight increase of more than US$ 500 per container, equivalent to around US$ 20 per tonne.
At the same time, OCC export prices continued to drop from levels of US$ 215+ per tonne to US$ 195 while mixed paper prices fell from around US$ 185 to US$ 170+. Ex-works prices for both OCC and mixed papers continued to decline so as to accommodate both the freight increases as well as the weakening market. This exerted more pressure upon the balers. Similar market sentiments were seen across all other grades.
Stock levels of both finished goods and recovered fibre at all Asian producers remained above average during the quarter, with these mills finding it difficult to either maintain or increase prices of new paper (...)