CEPIPRINT: Newsprint shipments outside Western Europe contracted by 23% in August

Sep 27, 2005. /Lesprom Network/. The effects of the Finnish lockout that negatively influenced the shipments for June and July are starting to wear off, the association of European publication paper producers reported. Shipments in August were back to flat for all qualities, except for uncoated mechanical that remained at -5%.

Domestic shipments were very strong for all qualities, mainly due to German demand, with increases of around 5% for newsprint and CMR and close to 7% for SC-magazine. Uncoated mechanical had a more modest increase of 2%.

Exports alone were responsible for the flat outcome. For newsprint, shipments outside WE contracted by 23% due to the decline in the North American market and the shrinking of the markets in Malaysia,Taiwan and Hong Kong. Exports for SC-magazine papers actually increased for most destinations except for North America, where August imports were almost 50% lower than last year. North America is, finally, also responsible for the drop in exports of CMR. Nevertheless, so far this year, exports have risen by 16% and make up more than a quarter of WE shipments. For uncoated mechanical the main drop was in exports to Asia, in particular the Far East.

Western European mechanical papers statistics