This new service solves an ongoing industry-wide problem. Traditionally, when large purchasers and suppliers of OCC and other wastepaper grades have compared the available reference price to their own transaction records, they have seen wide discrepancies that erode their faith in the quality of the data in the index. These discrepancies make it extremely difficult for buyers, sellers, and traders to make confident business decisions that could have expensive consequences. They want – and need – reliable, actionable data.

Fisher International, in collaboration with Forest2Market has designed and built a transaction-based recycled fiber price benchmark specifically to help the industry reduce volatility and uncertainty. Recycled Fiber 360 provides visibility and accessibility to pricing metrics, which is key for developing meaningful decision-making criteria and bringing stability to the market. The new benchmark can help participants across the recycled fiber value chain make confident forward-looking business decisions based on actual transactional sales data. Recycled Fiber 360 provides interactive maps, charts and tables that offer:

• Index breakdowns by region and product
• Historical price trends
• Segmentation of apparent contract vs. spot
• Comparison of individual mills to other facilities purchasing recovered fiber within the same geographic region

In addition to the market transparency this service provides, companies can use the benchmarking capabilities to understand their competitiveness of the purchasing or sourcing strategy as well. This can drive insights into increased performance, opportunities for negotiations regarding base price, transportation, and other strategic advantages.

“We are really excited to introduce Recycled Fiber 360 to our customers and partners across the recycled fiber value chain, especially with OCC price volatility being such a pain point for so many of our customers,” said Matt Elhardt, VP of Global Sales, ResourceWise. “Forest2Market has been providing transaction-based pricing data to wood fiber feedstock markets since 2000. The OCC market is similar to these markets. In our years of experience developing precise and meaningful benchmarks for participants across the forest value chain, we’ve seen the benefits of reliable data based on actual market transactions in these markets.”

Currently, Recycled Fiber 360 covers OCC in US markets by region and is expected to expand to other recycled wastepaper grades over time. It is available on Forest2Market’s SilvaStat360 business analytics platform, a flexible, customizable digital environment that provides the datasets and analytical tools that are most important to participants across the forest value chain, including market pricing, benchmarks, and macroeconomic, forest inventory, precipitation, and forest carbon data.