Import of Turkish wastepaper to end

The prices of wastepaper in the country are set to increase around 25 per cent, as Turkey has imposed ban on the exports of waste paper, stakeholders of the paper industry told Pakistan Today on Tuesday. They said that Pakistan is one of the biggest importers of Turkish newspaper scrap and through the restriction place by the Turkish government; there will be shortage of wastepaper in Pakistan.
The price of wastepaper at Karachi port is around $250-270 per tonne in these days and it is expected it would climb to $320-340 per tonne in the coming days. Currently, Pakistan consumes around 150,000-180,000 metric tonnes per month of waste paper, which is used in different industries including recycling and packing. Import from Turkey is around 20-30 per cent and with the end of supply from this important source, it will result in an increase in prices in the local market. The country is importing around 30,000 to 40,000 metric tonnes per month from Turkey while imports from other countries include the US, UK, EU, Australia and Algeria said Muhammad Mobeen an importer of paper waste ,adding there will be great problems in the local market if the ban on export of waste paper continued by Turkey.
“Our recycling and paper industry depends a lot on imported waste and it is expected that prices would increase in near future,” he added. Another importer, Allah Yar Malik of TM Enterprises said that paper prices in Pakistan remained instable throughout the year and often it showed upward trends. “With restriction of exports by Turkish government, we are expecting that local market would face huge difficulties,” he said adding, besides Pakistan other countries like China, India and Far Eastern countries would face problems.
“Other countries generally and China particularly would suffer from this ban,” Malik added. Deedum Ahmet, an exporter of paper waste in Turkey, confirmed that her government has imposed a ban on exporting paper waste to other countries. While talking to Pakistan Today from Istanbul, she said that the ban has been imposed on June 13 and all the containers of paper waste going to any part of the world are stopped. She said the ban was imposed to bring down paper prices in Turkey.
“There has been a sharp increase in paper prices in Turkey over the last few years and now our government is trying to bring them down by banning exports,” she said adding though it would decrease paper prices in the country but it will also impact negatively people associated with waste paper. “We used to produce around 200,000 to 250,000 tonnes in each month and there are hundreds of yards of paperwaste where thousands of employees work. We fear that these employees will be rendered jobless if the ban on exports of waste paper continues,” she added.