During the autumn 2014 Bureau of International Recycling (BIR) conference, panelists at the Paper Division divisional meeting discussed the impact that the decline in exports of recovered fiber to China has had on business.
In remarks during the Paper Division meeting, held Oct. 28 in Paris, Reinhold Schmidt, of Recycling Karla Schmidt and president of the BIR’s Paper Division, expressed concern over the steady decline in overseas markets for recovered fiber from Europe. “The economic barometer in many parts of the world is continuing to go down,” Schmidt noted.
At the same time as the general slowdown in the shipment of recovered fiber to China, the paper recycling sector is being confronted with over-regulation, increased protectionism, lower margins and growing demands for higher fiber quality, said presenters.
Paper Division Honorary President Ranjit Baxi of J&H Sales International, London, suggested that exports of recovered fiber from Europe to China could drop as much as 12 percent in 2014 to around 28 million metric tons after having totaled 31.65 million metric tons in 2013. The end result is greater pressure on the part of paper recyclers to find an alternate home for the excess recovered fiber.
Baxi also called for fiber suppliers to tailor their quality to satisfy the needs of consumers, “rather than asking mills to adapt to suit the product we produce.”
In his comments on Eastern Europe, Jaroslav Dobes of Remat SRO said a 2.5 percent decline in the Czech Republic’s fiber collection volumes had meant “no stocks are being built.”
Merja Helander of Lassila & Tikanoja Plc, Finland, noted that the quantities collected in Southern Europe during the summer had been “extremely low.”
Meanwhile, in Northern Europe, there were generally stable market conditions by the second half of the year, according to Lars-Gunnar Almryd of Sweden-based IL Recycling AB. An increase in exports to Poland and Germany from the south of Sweden had affected availability for local mills in only a minor way “because collection has continued to grow,” said Almryd.
Sébastien Ricard of the French recycling firm Paprec said prices there have been relatively stable. During a discussion of the negative impacts of shorter-term contracts, Paprec’s founder Jean-Luc Petithuguenin said he always attempted to convince clients, including municipalities, to grant longer contracts “to give us time to invest and to amortize the investment.”
Schmidt, however said despite the advantages of longer-running contracts, the trend is toward shorter terms.
The division meeting also included a presentation from Dr.-Ing. Christina Dornack, head of the raw material and recycling department at Germany’s Papiertechnische Stiftung (PTS). “Business as usual won’t work for most plants in the long run,” said Dornack. Facilities of the future will “maximize productivity through extensive automation” and will clean recovered paper while pursuing “economically viable ways of dealing with the residue.”
In her role as the newly reappointed president of the European Recovered Paper Association (ERPA), Helander welcomed the formation of the European Recycling Industries’ Confederation (EuRIC). That body has been designed to enable the interests of Europe’s recycling industries to be promoted with “one voice” in Brussels.