Recovered Paper Market - Growth, Trends, COVID-19 Impact, and Forecasts (2022 - 2027)

The Recovered Paper Market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 2.7% over the forecast period 2021 to 2026. As corrugated containers and boxes are extensively used as packaging products for transportation and shipping, there is an excellent demand for recovered paper derived from old corrugated containers that can be recycled and reused for packaging purposes. The burgeoning demand for corrugated boxes for packaging is encouraging the growth of the recovered paper market.

Key Highlights

• The packaging industry requires recovered paper as a raw material. The increasing demand for environmentally friendly projects is expanding the market for recovered paper. As the government has also laid down rules regarding the use of papers in terms of environment security; thus, many businesses have started using recovered paper. The recovered paper market is used by different industries that use an environment-friendly product such as the food and beverage industry, electrical and electronics industry, automobile industry, and pharmaceutical industries.
• The recovered paper market is used for manufacturing products such as containerboards, corrugated boxes, cartons, and many others. For example, according to the US Census Bureau, in that year 2019, some 17.6 million tons accounting for 35.7% of all recovered paper and paperboards were shipped out as part of net exports. In that year, around 37.8% of all recovered paper and paperboards were recycled into containerboards.
• According to METI (Japan), in 2018, approximately 35.4 thousand metric tons of molded pulp were made from recovered paper, down from more than 36 thousand tons in the previous year. The composition ration of recovered paper from molded pulp amounted to around 3.2% in 2018. According to AF&PA, in 2019, approximately 79.5% of wastepaper was recovered in Japan, an increase from about 71% in 2005.
• The government's role in supporting the recovered paper plays a crucial role in driving the market. The reduction of carbon emission is also one of the major factors that draw more attention to the consumption of recovered paper. According to Global Carbon Atlas and CDIAC, in 2018, some 36.7 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide were emitted globally, and it is projected that worldwide energy-related carbon dioxide emissions will increase to 43 billion metric tons in 2050.
• In today's world, there is an enhanced demand for online purchase of products where cartons and corrugated boxes are highly used for the packaging. For instance, according to India Brand Equity Foundation, increasing exponentially, the market value of the e-commerce industry in India was nearly 50 billion U.S dollars in 2018. This number was expected to reach 200 billion U.S. dollars by 2027. According to Hootsuite, the third quarter of 2019 saw internet users in Indonesia purchase the most items online, with 88% of active internet users shopping online.
• Asia, majorly dominated by China and India, is still the primary growth driver. The USA and Europe are the prime exporters of recovered paper, globally. However, these regions are witnessing negative or minimum growth rates after the import restrictions in China. Besides, the sustainability regulations in China have become a significant challenge for global recyclers.

Key Market Trends

Containerboard to Dominate the Market

• The containerboard segment is gaining popularity in the global packaging industry. The global containerboard demand is exacted to increase significantly, mainly due to rising e-commerce shipments, and corrugated box shipments, increasing demand for packaged food and companies, and the consumers shifting toward recovered packaging solutions.
• According to Suzano, containerboard accounted for 166 million metric tons of global demand in 2018, 40% of the worldwide market for a paper that year. The second most in-demand end-use of paper at that time was printing and writing paper, which had a total global demand volume of 99 million metric tons.
• In the year 2019, according to Fisher International, the Asia Pacific macro-region had a 53% share of the containerboard market worldwide. Containerboard, also known as corrugated case material (CCM), is a variety of paperboard manufactured to produce the corrugated board.
• The US Census Bureau state that in the year 2019, some 17.6 million tons of all recovered paper and paperboards were shipped out as part of net exports. In that year, some 18.6 million tons of all recovered paper and paperboard were used for the manufacturing of Containerboard.
• According to Berg Mill Supply, a US-based recycled and recovered material supplier, the United States' containerboard capacity is estimated to account for 11.6%, i.e., 4.45 million metric tons by 2021.
• The presence of alternative packaging solutions is one of the critical factors anticipated to hamper growth. However, growing environmental concerns and governments pushing the packaging firms toward the adoption of recovered papers for packaging offer a huge opportunity for the segment.

North America to Hold a Dominant Position

• With the focus now moving towards eco-friendly and sustainability, packaging with recovered paper is expected to gain attention over plastic packaging, which poses a significant threat to the environment. The United States is expected to drive the paper packaging segment, with applications across industries, like healthcare, personal care, homecare, retail, and others. This, in turn, is urging the demand for the recovered paper market in the coming years.
• The growing number of shipments in the e-commerce industry in the region is also a notable factor for the increasing demand for containerboard, which has a substantial share for the recovered paper market. According to the US Census Bureau & US Department of Commerce, in the first quarter of 2020, adjusted U.S. retail e-commerce sales amounted to over 160.33 billion U.S. dollars. In the first quarter of 2020, the share of e-commerce in total U.S. retail sales was 11.8%, up from 10.5% from the corresponding quarter in the previous year.
• Moreover, the retail value sales of packaged foods are also supposed to grow by 4% in the United States, year-on-year, between 2018 and 2020, due to the growing availability, awareness, and affordability. According to Pitchfork Media, in 2019, the online sales of packaged food in the U.S. amounted to about USD 13.2 billion and is anticipated to reach USD 16.6 billion by 2021.
• Increasing concern over food safety in the food and beverage sector has propelled the need for high-quality food service board and liquid packaging board. Besides this, the development of e-commerce in the United States has promoted the increase in express delivery, further driving the demand for packaging paper, thereby driving the need for a recovered paper market during the forecast period.

Competitive Landscape

The Recovered Paper Market is moderately competitive and consists of several major players. As the market is highly developing, there is significant competition among the principal players. The key players are Smurfit Kappa Group plc. International Paper, Nine Dragons Paper Holdings Limited, Nine Dragons Paper Holdings Limited, ​DS Smith Plc, Stora Enso Oyj ​​, and International Paper​​ , among others. Major players of the recovered paper market are entering into significant mergers and acquisitions to maintain their position and expand their market.

• Sep 2019 - Nine Dragons Paper acquired a company in Malaysia with a production capacity of 0.48 million tpa for recycled pulp. With the acquisition, the Group’s total design production capacity for paper and pulp worldwide increased to 16.37 million tonnes per annum (tpa), including 15.52 million tpa of paper capacity and 0.85 million tpa of pulp capacity.

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