Scandinavia

The summer generally means stability in Scandinavia’s recycled paper market - and 2021 offered no exception. After a shaky spring in which there was a strong increase in prices followed towards the end by some falls, the market was stable in July and August. Both OCC and mixed paper remained in demand as mills had a large requirement for raw material during the third quarter. The lack of logistics capacity remains challenging and the situation has not improved in recent months.

The third quarter also brought high demand from newsprint and tissue mills. There were generally stable prices for graphic material although tissue mills increased their payments in order to secure supplies. Demand from insulation producers increased during the quarter and there is a strong requirement for overissued newspapers.

Overall, collection rates during the summer followed the trend set in previous years in being lower than during the spring. To some extent, this was compensated by a significant number of maintenance stops among the mills. Now most mills are looking to run their machines at full speed, which is also boosting demand for OCC.

There is a high demand for graphic grades after some months of lower collection levels. Volumes have slowly increased during the last month but demand is still greater than availability.