OCC Waste Paper; a great opportunity for new startup Import Export business

[Kishan Barai]

Can we make money from waste ??

Well, I have seen 100s of successful people dealing in waste, like Copper Scrap, alluvium, wire, battery scrap, etc but out of all scrap, OCC Waste Paper scrap seems best for startups as it needs little financial investment & local demand from a paper mill is very high. 

I am not just writing an article but its a practical experience of my clients & students who started importing OCC Waste Paper Business under my guidance and are doing really very good 

You do analysis by yourself & you will find that in India most people are dealing on credit but for this product OCC Waste paper, people are dealing in advance or has at a max credit of 7 days in India. 

At present most Paper Mill Owner are not very educated and are dependent on local supper of OCC. Merchant Import & provide it to mill owners.

Avg Paper Mill requirement stands around 5000 Tons. 5000 Tons is a monthly requirement of a single paper mill, think what would be the scope of this product ??

It is a very cheap product to source costing around 110 to 150$ CIF per 1000 KGS, imported mainly from EU, USA, UAE, etc. 

Import norms to import OCC Waste Paper is also not very strict, it only needs IEC Code & Pollution Control Board Certificate from state & its FREE in Gujarat, I don't know charges of PCB in other states but you can easily google 

By the way, I am V. Sorry I forget to tell you what is OCC Waste Paper?

Actually its an Old Corrugated Cardboard (OCC), you might have seen the Box of your TV or Fridge, what you do with your TV set box? probably throw away. OCC Grade 11 is a collection of such waste, there are around 50 types of OCC waste paper grade that you can easily google, but I am here to throw the practical points of the market so I will only talk about grade OCC Grade 11 is the only OCC waste paper in great demand in the market. Grade 11 is the finest quality of OCC Waste Paper which does not contain Plastic or broken glass in waste. Another grade has some plastic or some light quality waste made from the poor quality carton, etc. 

while buying OCC Waste Paper you must take care of

1. Moisture Level 

A. Mostly Industry demand 5 to 10% Moisture Level, that is % of water level in Waste. Many suppliers from USA provides 0% moisture level OCC but in actual 0% moisture level is not possible when it come to India because 1% would come because of environment & in transit. Moreover, it would cost you more. 

EU & USA does not believe in recycling they throw away waste, UAE is one of the major importers of OCC Waste paper from EU & USA for re-export. 

Sometimes you will find UAE will provide OCC at a much lower rate as compared to EU & USA, because they simply add water to increase moisture level which also results in more weight, so it results them to earn more re-exporting to into countries like India as they increase QTY by adding water. 

Indian Industry need OCC with some moisture level as they make bails from waste then compress for recycling which turns into paper and related products.

2. Outthrow Level

Outthrow means paper mill / industry needs to throw that % of OCC waste out as it's not fit for recycling.  

Make sure it should not be more than 5%, for example; tissue paper stick to it, etc. 

Try to find some new source from countries like Indonesia, Cambodia, Myanmar (Burma), Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines because you will enjoy special concession of  Basic custom import duty, SWC as our government has a Free Trade Agreement with all above

Take Care of payment terms while importing it.

Free free to connect with me via Whatsapp for any help relating to export-import business. 

Cordially Yours, 

Kishan Barai