Since our previous Mirror report in January, the Scandinavian market for OCC has been on a continuously upward path, with a major rise in March. There were lower collection volumes in most northern countries and regions, although the decline in Sweden and Poland was a little less pronounced than in Denmark where a stricter lockdown resulted in a significant fall in volumes. Mixed paper followed the OCC market during this period.
Having been stable in January, the market for newspapers and graphic material has headed higher since February. There was low demand for the higher grades until March but then an increase in orders and prices during April. Scandinavian tissue mills have been well supplied during the period.
The paper for recycling market in Scandinavia has been very turbulent during recent months. While COVID led to lower collection levels, demand from the mills has been very high. Collection volumes have slowly increased over the last month and a more stable market can be anticipated for the coming period.
Stora Enso recently announced two mill closures - one in Sweden and the other in Finland - although this will not have a direct impact on the local paper for recycling market. There are no longer any newsprint mills in Sweden using paper for recycling since Hylte stopped its DIP line before Easter.
