U.S. exports of recovered paper and fiber in the first quarter of 2023 declined roughly 8% to less than 3.7 million metric tons (mt) compared with first-quarter 2022.
The strongest demand came from Thailand, which increased its Q1 purchases of U.S. recovered paper almost 120%, year-on-year, to 747,105 mt. For perspective, Thailand was the third-largest buyer of U.S. recovered paper for all of 2022.
India—the largest importer of U.S. recovered paper in 2022—reduced its imports of U.S. scrap paper by 37% to 684,417 mt in Q1 2023, making it the second-largest destination so far this year.
Mexico was the third-largest buyer in Q1 2023, with its imports of 533,285 mt of U.S. recovered paper down slightly (6%) from its purchases in Q1 2022.
And Vietnam maintained its 2022 position as the fourth-largest destination for U.S. scrap paper exports, though its Q1 2023 purchases slipped almost 13% to 392,266 mt.
Malaysia and China were the only other top-10 countries to increase their imports of U.S. recovered paper in Q1 2023 at 264,162 mt (up 8%) and 200,608 mt (up 11%), respectively.
Photo by Rinson Chory from Unsplash.
