Prices for bulk recovered paper grades on the rise in Italy

Rome: After steadily declining for several months, prices for magazines (1.06) and newspapers (2.01) increased considerably on the Italian market in March.

The sentiment on the Italian recovered paper market is positive. Although the general private consumption situation has not improved, the outlook is brightening and prices of some grades are trending higher.

Price increases were reported in March for mixed paper and board (1.02), supermarket paper and board (1.04) and old corrugated containers (OCC, 1.05). And there was a price surge for recovered paper for deinking, while quotes for higher grades remained unchanged compared to February levels.

A slight uptick in demand for ordinary recovered paper grades was observed in March. Market participants reported a slight bump in incoming orders from Northern Europe as well as from Italian paper producers. There were occasional downtimes in the packaging paper, cartonboard and coreboard industries in March, but these were much less common than in February. Several recycling paper mills said they would be operating throughout the month and that they planned barely any downtime over Easter. Other manufacturers said they would idle production for a couple of days over the Easter period.

Nevertheless, EUWID respondents doubt the latest developments on the paper side of the market are indicative of a true trend turnaround. The overall private consumption situation has not improved, many point out. This was also evident in the ongoing low arisings of recovered paper and the trickle of material coming into the collection centres, said one supplier. Yet, there is a growing sense of expectation and many respondents believe that prices for ordinary recovered paper grades could rise even more.