Banbury - The latest WRAP report titled "Paper market situation report 2010" examines the key factors influencing the UK markets for recovered paper and board (recovered fibre). It includes a special report on the long-term challenges and opportunities for the recovered paper sector. This paper edited by the Waste & Resources Action Programme is an update from the first paper Market Situation Report, published in 2007.

The report looks at the key factors influencing the UK markets for recovered paper and board (recovered fibre) since then, including: developments in the domestic and overseas paper manufacturing sectors; changes in collection trends; and movements in prices. In addition, the report focuses in detail on trends in UK paper production and consumption and its implications for future demand for recovered fibre.

Key themes to emerge from the paper recycling sector in 2009 are:
* declining paper consumption has led to lower volumes of paper recovery, despite rising recovery rates;
* production capacity has continued to contract in certain parts of the UK paper manufacturing industry but has expanded in others. As a consequence, the nature of the demand for recovered fibre is changing; and
* prices have been very volatile over the past 18 months, reaching unusually high levels in mid 2008, before declining steeply and then recovering towards historic averages.

The paper summarizes:

There is likely to be some rebound in paper consumption as the UK emerges from recession, but the long-term trend in consumption is likely to be downward. With recovery rates likely to increase only slowly from now on, paper collection volumes may decline.

For some paper sectors – such as newsprint – declining consumption and increased production will mean that the UK will be more self-sufficient, meaning that there will be domestic end markets for more of the paper recovered from the UK waste stream. For others, the pattern is less obvious. Although there may be limited scope to increase domestic utilisation of paper, overcapacity – particularly in Europe and in the US – presents a continuing threat to the UK paper sector and hence domestic markets for recovered paper.
The market volatility seen at the end of 2008 highlighted the importance of building and supporting a diversified set of end markets – both domestic and overseas – for the UK’s recovered paper.

The full report can be downloaded under wrap.org.uk.

Quelle: WRAP (Waste & Resources Action Programme)

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