BIR Congress: Maguin, Shipping Agent Honored by Paper Division

The Paper Division of the Bureau of International Recycling (BIR), Brussels, bestowed honors on its long-time president and a key supplier at its meeting at the 2011 World Recycling Congress.

Dominique Maguin of La Compagnie des Matieres Premieres, Paris, who served as president of the Paper Division for many years and as president of BIR from 2007 to 2011, received a gift and was named as honorary president of the BIR Paper Division.

Current Paper Division president Ranjit Baxi of J&H Sales International Ltd., London, presented Maguin with the gift and honorary title, saying that Maguin “lives the recycling industry; he is always thinking, ‘How can we improve this industry?’”

Maguin thanked Baxi and encouraged those in attendance to “invest efforts each day to understand well and better, how can we help improve our industry?”

The BIR Paper Division Papyrus Award was presented to Wong Siew Loong, a vice president with shipping company American President Lines (APL) in its Singapore office. “We looked at key partners and are proud to honor APL for its global services,” said Baxi.

Paper recyclers at the Paper Division meeting provided regional market updates. Giuseppe Masotina of Masotina Spa, Corsico, Italy, reported a drop in some recovered fiber prices in May, but added, “The downturn in prices is giving a breath of fresh air to the paper mills that produce packaging, which continue to be [harmed] by the financial crisis.”

Lars-Gunnary Almryd of IL Recycling, Stockholm, said Swedish paper mills consumed 7.6 percent less recovered fiber in the first quarter of 2011 compared to the same time frame in 2010. “Supply and demand are balanced and exporting to the Far East is on a low level, so we do not expect any more price increases before summer,” said Almryd.

Ekrem Demircioglu of the Turkish company Tudam reported that “Turkey has shown the biggest growing rate after China in 2010, [and] we expect this growth to continue in 2011.” Turkish paper companies, said Demircioglu, “continue to invest in this sector; two new mills will be active by the last quarter of 2011 and this will result in an increase in local demand.”

The 2011 BIR World Recycling Convention was May 23-25 in Singapore.