China’s demand for recovered fiber is among the top trends driving the global paper market, according to a panel discussion held during the 2005 Paper Recycling Conference and Trade Show.
According to Bill Moore of Moore & Associates, who moderated the session titled “As the World Turns: Fiber Flow Dynamics,” Asia (particularly China) is expected to lead the world in investment in additional recycling capacity through 2007, while North America is expected to lose capacity during the same time period.
Old corrugated cardboard and old newspaper (OCC and ONP)—and to some extent mixed paper—are the grades getting the most attention on the world stage. Demand in North America for OCC is declining because goods that require packaging aren’t being manufactured in that region, said Moore.
Panelist Ron Thiry of SCA North America commented that tighter supply, lower quality, consolidation among suppliers and consumers and the emergence of the document destruction industry will be key domestic factors that will continue to effect the global paper market in the near future.
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The document destruction industry is not just adding more contaminants to the recovered fiber stream, said Thiry, but changing the scope of how contaminants are removed—once shredded, unwanted materials are smaller and harder to remove, he said.
“Quality is going to decline,” Thiry said. “We need to explore technology that will still allow the end product we need.”
Quality is changing, Al Metauro of Metro Waste agreed, and added that supply shortages encourage end users to seek out contracts with suppliers.
Ming Chung Liu of Nine Dragons Paper Industries Co. echoed the rest of the panel’s opinion on China—that it will continue to be the largest importer of recovered paper through 2007 and that it will keep most of its fiber in domestic mills.
Liu also mentioned Japan’s emergence as a “new player” in the world market as an exporter of recovered paper.