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closed plants have added to OCC end markets.
Further west, a number of Northwestern mills have started putting in
equipment which will allow the mills to switch from using either double-
lined kraft cuts and wood chips to using greater amounts of OCC.
Another factor helping OCC markets has been economic forecasts
which expect to see solid improvements in demand for linerboard, a prime
end market for OCC. If, as a number of industry reports estimate, demand
for linerboard increases significantly, there could be a boost to the demand
for OCC to feed these recycled linerboard mills as the year progresses.
While OCC has been one of the most talked about grades, the need for
a stronger economic turnaround will be the driving force. While there are
encouraging signs on the domestic front, more positive news will be
needed before better markets for OCC are seen.
The export side is one of the main drags on the OCC market. With
such a large percentage of the OCC going overseas, the steady decline in
demand for the grade on the export side has put a damper on the market
place. Asian and European markets have struggled with soft markets. At
the same time there seems to be a general trend by overseas mills to
purchase larger amounts of OCC from either European sources, or
through domestically collected locations.
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