FOEX: Paper packaging prices down in Europe except OCC; old corrugated container prices up with increased exports, low availability of recovered paper
Kendall Sinclair
LOS ANGELES
,
January 31, 2012
(press release)
–
Containerboard Europe – In the US, total containerboard statistics showed a 0.8% gain from December and plus 0.3% for the year, as reported by the FBA. Prices in domestic market have been steady, although the export market prices have fallen substantially over the year. In Europe, annual numbers are not out yet but as the latest months have shown larger declines against 2010, it is obvious that a decline will be seen for the year as a whole as well. Prices have fallen with the decline in demand. That downward trend continued also during the final week of January. Last week, also the currency movements had a negative impact on the packaging benchmarks. Euro strengthened by 1.9% against the USD and by about 0.4% against the weighted basket of the non-EMU currencies. All our packaging benchmarks headed south. The PIX Kraftliner index lost 9.92 euro, or 1.9%, and closed at 517.91 EUR/ton. The PIX White-top Kraftliner index retreated by 6.41 euro, or by 0.83%, and closed at 765.53 EUR/ton. Our PIX Testliner 2 index lost 14.23 euro, or 3.3%, and settled at 415.04 EUR/ton. PIX Testliner 3 index fell by 10.62 EUR, or by 2.7%, and landed at 385.14 EUR/ton. Our PIX RB Fluting index declined by 7.27 euro, or by 1.9%, to 376.24 EUR/ton.
Recovered paper Europe – Recovered paper demand in China continued quite lively through January. The increasing volumes for exports and sinking availability of recovered paper in Europe have started to show also in some of the regional recovered paper prices, including OCC. The PIX OCC 1.04 dd benchmark moved up by 48 cents, or by 0.43%, and closed at 112.02 EUR/ton. The price gaps narrowed considerably as recovered paper based containerboard prices retreated. Against Testliner 2, the gap narrowed by 14.71 euro to 303.02 EUR/ton. Against Testliner 3, the differential narrowed by 11.10 EUR to 273.12 EUR/ton. Against RB Fluting, the gap shrank by 7.75 euro to 264.22 EUR/ton. Our PIX ONP/OMG 1.11 dd index retreated by 2.67 euro, or by 2.1%, landing at 124.03 EUR/ton. As the PIX Newsprint benchmark moved marginally up, the differential to PIX ONP/OMG 1.11 widened by 3.24 euro to 390.15 EUR/ton.
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