Dipping Downward

Tightened scrutiny of paper stock shipments destined for China is putting greater pressure on collectors of recovered fiber in the United States.


Prices for sorted office paper (SOP) declined slightly in most regions during the April buying period, according to figures reported by PPI Pulp & Paper Week April 5, 2013. The decline likely relates to events in the export market.

In the early 2013, shippers of secondary commodities to China first learned about “Operation Green Fence.”

At the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries Inc. (ISRI) Annual Convention & Exposition, April 9-13 in Orlando, Fla., Wang Jiwei, vice president and secretary general of the China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association Recycling Metal Branch (CMRA), referred to the initiative as a 10-month effort by China’s national customs agency “to strengthen the supervision” of environmental standards.

Wang said Operation Green Fence would run from February to November 2013 and would focus on random inspections of all forms of “imported waste.”

Paper stock exporters say downgrades and rejections of recovered fiber shipments have increased as a result.
 



(News on recovered fiber is available from SDB’s sister publication Recycling Today at www.RecyclingToday.com.)

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