U.S. Recovered Paper Exports Get Off to Muted Start

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster):  The shipments of recovered fiber by the U.S. to overseas destinations remained more or less stable during the opening month of the current year. The volume of exports was up marginally by less than 2% when matched with January last year. China continued to be the top export destination, despite notable decline in recovered paper intake over the year.

According to U.S. Census Bureau data, the country exported 1.6 million short tons of recovered fiber in the first month of 2019. Out of this, old corrugated containers (OCCs) made up 63% of total fiber exports. Meantime, 13% of the recovered paper exports were mixed paper. The proportion of mixed grade paper has been on a steady decline for several months now.

The largest foreign market for U.S. recovered paper exports was China. The country received 532,000 short tons, accounting for nearly one-third of the total U.S. shipments. However, the import volumes recorded drastic decline by more than 31% over the previous year. The U.S. shipments to China had totaled 774,000 short tons in January 2018. The other key importers were India (227,000 short tons), Indonesia (169,000 short tons), Mexico (166,000 short tons), South Korea (122,000 short tons) and Canada (92,000 short tons).

The drop in exports to China was balanced by increased shipment volumes to countries such as India and Indonesia.

The full-year 2018 recovered paper exports by the country had totaled nearly 21.0 million short tons in 2018, higher by 5% over the 2017 exports of 20.1 million short tons.

This story originally appeared in www.resource-recycling.com