OCC Prices Settle

摘要

Over the past four weeks OCC prices can best be described in three words: quiet and stable. Yes, $5 per ton bumps up occurred in the Northeast and on the West Coast. But this was more board mills reacting to a strong export market. The healthy export activity has puzzled industry players, with numerous sources pointing out that Chinese buyers have backed off a bit in their traditionally aggressive buying patterns. However, over the past couple of weeks two countries have come into the U.S. market and picked up any tons that China was no longer interested in buying: India and Indonesia. Reports are that recovered paper inspections in these two countries could tighten up in the months ahead. So the recovered paper buyers there are trying to make certain that they have healthy inventories sooner rather than later.