Frequently asked questions

SCT International GmbH is an independent, privately owned international trading house for paper, board, pulp, fibres and recycled polymers, headquartered in Hamburg and founded in 2023. We source with a focus on South America, Asia and Europe and supply customers across Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia. Alongside the Hamburg headquarters, we operate a branch office in Frankfurt am Main and sales offices in Kyiv and Tashkent.

A trading house serves both sides of the deal: it gives manufacturers a reliable outlet for their production and keeps buyers supplied with the grades they need — in every market phase. The value lies in services a mill rarely provides in smaller or distant markets: a full assortment from one counterpart instead of many single suppliers, financing with deferred payment terms, managed logistics to the point of destination, technical advice and claims handling in the customer’s language. By pooling purchases across several markets, a trader also secures terms that individual buyers can seldom reach on their own.

A back-to-back transaction is a fully matched trade in which the goods travel directly from the producing mill to the customer — purchase and sale are concluded at the same time, on secured terms. SCT works almost exclusively in this model and deliberately holds no stock of its own: the customer receives freshly produced goods without extra handling costs, and no speculative inventory risk arises. Where interim storage makes logistical sense, we arrange it through partners as part of the transport chain.

As an independent trading house we are tied to no mill and no group — we recommend the grade and the source that fit the requirement best, technically and commercially. Customers gain access to several manufacturers through one contact and reduce their single-sourcing risk: if one source drops out or the market tightens, we can switch to alternative mills. The same neutrality is what makes us a reliable partner for manufacturers.

We supply printers, publishers, packaging and corrugated plants, carton and tissue producers, paper mills, and wholesalers who serve local converters. The scope runs from a single container to annual contracts with predictable call-off volumes. Six product lines cover the demand: graphical papers, cartonboard, packaging papers, pulp, fibres and yarns, and recycled polymers.

Uncoated woodfree paper (UWF) is a printing and writing paper made from chemically processed pulp without any coating — the classic base for offset printing, books, forms and copy paper. “Woodfree” does not mean free of wood, but practically free of lignin-bearing mechanical pulp: the paper barely yellows and is ageing-resistant. Copy paper at 80 gsm is the best-known example; offset grades are supplied in reels or sheets across a wide grammage range.

Woodfree papers are made from chemical pulp from which the lignin has been removed; mechanical papers contain groundwood pulp, lignin included. Mechanical grades offer more bulk and opacity at the same grammage and cost less — but they yellow under light. That is why they dominate where bulk matters and archival permanence does not: books, newspapers and high-volume print, while woodfree grades are chosen for long-lived and premium applications.

Bulky papers achieve an above-average specific volume through their fibre composition — a book block looks thicker and feels more substantial without gaining weight. Publishers use this deliberately: the same book thickness at a lower paper weight cuts material and shipping costs. Typical applications are fiction, schoolbooks and paperbacks.

C1S label paper (coated one side) is a paper coated on one side only: the coated face delivers a brilliant printed image, while the uncoated reverse is designed for gluing. It is used above all for wet-glue labels on beverages and canned goods and for flexible packaging, mostly in grammages of around 60 to 90 gsm. Self-adhesive papers, by contrast, are a laminate of face material, pressure-sensitive adhesive and siliconised release liner that label printers convert directly — the adhesive layer is already part of the product.

Carbonless paper is a coated paper that transfers writing to the sheets beneath without carbon paper: microcapsules on the back of the upper sheet burst under writing pressure and react with the developer layer of the next sheet. It is traded as a matched set of top, middle and bottom sheets (CB, CFB, CF). Typical applications are delivery notes, invoice and receipt pads and multi-part forms — still a steady demand in many markets.

Thermal paper carries a heat-sensitive functional coating that develops colour under the heat of a thermal print head — no ribbon or ink is needed. That makes it the standard for till receipts, payment slips, shipping and weighing labels, and tickets. As thermal board, the same technology is available in higher grammages for travel tickets, boarding passes and admission tickets.

Kraftliner is a linerboard made predominantly from virgin, unbleached softwood kraft pulp — the strength-defining outer facing of corrugated board. Its long virgin fibres deliver high burst and puncture resistance and good moisture tolerance. Kraftliner is therefore used where packaging has to endure: export and heavy-duty packaging, fruit and vegetable trays, and humid environments such as the cold chain. White-top variants are available for high-quality printing.

Kraftliner is made predominantly from virgin fibre; testliner entirely from recycled fibre — usually in several plies, with the better fibre quality in the top layer. Testliner does not reach the strength and moisture performance of kraftliner, but it is more economical and entirely sufficient for the majority of standard packaging. In practice the two are combined: virgin fibre where the box is stressed, recycled fibre everywhere else. Testliner is also available white-top and coated.

Fluting is the paper for the corrugated middle layer of corrugated board — it gives the packaging its cushioning and its crush resistance. Recycled-based fluting covers standard demand; semi-chemical fluting, made mainly from hardwood, offers markedly higher stiffness and moisture resistance and is chosen for demanding packaging such as fruit and vegetable trays. Liners and fluting together form the product group of corrugated case materials (CCM).

MG (machine glazed) denotes papers dried against a polished cylinder to a high gloss on one side — one face shines, the reverse stays rough. MF (machine finished) papers are machine-smooth on both sides, without that glazed face. Both come in white and brown, mostly kraft-based: as bag and wrapping papers, for food packaging, interleaving, and as base paper for coating and lamination.

Sack kraft is a high-strength kraft paper for paper sacks and carrier bags; semi-extensible grades are micro-creped during production and absorb considerably more drop energy thanks to their higher stretch. For cement and building-material sacks that take hard knocks, that is the decisive advantage over standard grades. Porosity governs filling performance: when valve sacks are filled at speed, the injected air has to escape through the paper — paper that is too dense slows the line or bursts sacks. Traded in brown and white, typically in grammages between 60 and 120 gsm.

Folding boxboard (FBB) is a multi-ply board with chemical-pulp outer layers and a bulky mechanical-pulp middle layer — stiff at comparatively low weight, and therefore the standard for folding cartons in pharma, cosmetics, food and consumer goods. GC1 has a white, coated reverse in addition to the coated face; on GC2 the reverse stays cream and uncoated. GC1 is chosen when the inside of the carton is visible or printed; GC2 is the more economical standard. High-bulk versions raise stiffness per gram further — the same carton performance at a lower grammage.

White lined chipboard (WLC), also traded as duplex board, is a multi-ply board based on recovered paper with a white-coated face. GD grades have a grey reverse, GT grades a light to white one. WLC is the economical choice for packaging without direct food contact: dry and film-wrapped foods, detergents and consumer goods, mailer cartons. Within the GD class, grades are further tiered by bulk and stiffness.

SBS (solid bleached sulphate) is a board made throughout from bleached chemical pulp — even the cut edge is pure white. It offers the highest purity and printability in the cartonboard range and is therefore used for cosmetics and luxury packaging, pharmaceuticals, direct food contact and premium graphical applications. Coated, it is the reference where appearance and sensory safety count in equal measure.

SUS/SUB (solid unbleached sulphate/board) is a board made throughout from unbleached kraft pulp — brown at its core, with a white-coated face on request. Its strength is exceptional durability that holds up in wet conditions and in the cold chain. As carrier board it carries beverage multipacks and bottle carriers; further applications include frozen-food packaging and heavy consumer goods.

Cupstock is cup base board: a chemical-pulp speciality board for paper cups and containers, designed for direct contact with hot and cold food. For liquid tightness it is PE-laminated on one or both sides; coated and uncoated versions are available for further converting. It is converted into hot-drink cups, cold-drink cups, ice-cream and food containers.

Both are liquid packaging boards, but they differ in barrier and distribution route: gable top board is PE-coated on both sides and intended for chilled fresh products such as milk and juice with a short shelf life. Aseptic board additionally contains an aluminium barrier layer and is filled under sterile conditions — the contents keep for months without refrigeration. The choice therefore follows the product, the shelf-life requirement and the cold-chain infrastructure of the target market.

Book binding board is a hard, thick solid board based on recovered paper, traded by thickness rather than grammage — the material for book covers, ring binders, board-game packaging and rigid set-up boxes. Art board is its counterpart on the graphical side: a multiple-coated, high-white chemical-pulp board with brilliant print reproduction for premium packaging, covers, cards and graphical applications.

NBSK (northern bleached softwood kraft) is bleached long-fibre pulp from northern softwoods such as spruce and pine; BHKP (bleached hardwood kraft pulp) is bleached short-fibre pulp from hardwoods such as birch, eucalyptus or acacia. The long softwood fibres are the strength carrier in paper — they provide tear and wet strength and runnability on the machine. Short fibres deliver even formation, smoothness, opacity and softness. In practice, paper and tissue mills blend both and steer the properties of their product through the ratio.

Fluff pulp is a specially prepared, bulky pulp — usually softwood-based — for the absorbent cores of hygiene products such as nappies, incontinence and feminine-care articles. It is delivered not in bales but in reels, and defibred dry at the converter. What counts are absorbency, defibration energy and consistent quality from reel to reel.

UKP (unbleached kraft pulp) is kraft pulp on which the bleaching stage is skipped — it stays brown and retains maximum fibre strength. It is used wherever strength outranks brightness: in packaging and sack papers, as reinforcement fibre, and in technical speciality applications such as cable, filter and electrical insulating papers.

Consistency, availability and clean price referencing. Buyers check the technical values — strength, brightness, dirt count, refining behaviour — above all for uniformity from shipment to shipment, because variation costs productivity on the machine. Commercially, what counts are reliable logistics to the mill, suitable lot sizes and transparent pricing; pulp is traded on contract with reference to market indices or on the spot market. SCT serves both routes and takes care of delivery, financing and documentation.

Polyester staple fibres are synthetic fibres cut to a defined length — one of the most versatile raw materials of the nonwovens and textile industries. Spunlace types go into wet wipes and hygiene nonwovens, often blended with viscose fibres; nonwoven types into filters, automotive trim, geotextiles and speciality papers; HCS types (hollow conjugated siliconised) serve as lofty filling fibre for pillows, duvets, furniture and apparel. Both virgin and recycled qualities are offered, the latter won mainly from PET bottles — the market is moving clearly towards recycled, and for many applications recycled types are technically equivalent.

Viscose staple fibres are cellulosic man-made fibres based on dissolving pulp — absorbent, skin-friendly and biodegradable. In hygiene nonwovens such as wet wipes they provide absorbency and softness, typically blended with polyester fibres; beyond that they are a staple raw material of the textile industry. For converters, fibre fineness and cut length, brightness and consistent processability are what count.

We supply LDPE regranulate for film extrusion and injection moulding, and HDPE flakes for extrusion and compounding — cleanly reprocessed recyclates with documented properties, further grades on request. With recyclates, what matters is purity, melt flow index and consistency from batch to batch; our selection of reprocessors and our sampling process are built around exactly that. Before larger contracts we provide samples for processing trials.

It starts with your enquiry stating grade, specification, volume and destination — you receive a concrete offer shortly afterwards, with price, delivery basis, lead time and payment terms. Once you order, we confirm the contract, place production at the mill and manage shipment, documents and, where needed, customs clearance. We keep you continuously informed on status — through our portal or on whichever channel suits you — until the goods arrive at destination. One dedicated contact accompanies the order from first enquiry to final delivery.

The more precise the specification, the faster and sharper the offer: grade, grammage, reels or sheets. For reels, add reel width, maximum outer diameter and core inner diameter (commonly 76 or 150 mm); for sheets, the sheet size and grain direction. Then volume, destination with the preferred delivery basis, and the required date. The end application helps too — it lets us propose the technically right grade and, where useful, alternatives.

Incoterms define who pays for which leg of the transport and where the risk passes. FOB (free on board): we hand over the goods loaded on board at the port of departure; ocean freight and risk from there are the buyer’s. CFR (cost and freight): we pay the ocean freight to the port of destination, while the transport risk passes on loading. CIF (cost, insurance and freight): as CFR, plus we provide the cargo insurance. DAP (delivered at place): we deliver to the named place — your warehouse, for instance — and the buyer handles import clearance. Our typical bases are CFR/CIF port of destination or DAP customer warehouse; we advise on which basis fits your case.

A letter of credit is a bank-secured payment undertaking: the buyer’s bank commits to pay against presentation of documents that conform to the contract — above all the bill of lading. Under the common sight LC, payment flows on presentation of the documents; deferred-payment variants combine the security with a financing component. The seller gains payment security independent of the buyer’s creditworthiness; the buyer pays only once shipment of the specified goods is documented. Letters of credit carry bank charges and tie up credit lines — so we structure them deliberately where they add real value, such as new trading relationships or high order values.

Yes — financing the transaction is at the core of our service. Depending on market and creditworthiness, terms of 30 to 90 days are customary, secured through credit insurance; alongside that we work with letters of credit, prepayment or combined structures. With new customers, payment terms grow step by step with the relationship. Buyers can thus pay for goods after they have arrived — often a decisive liquidity advantage over buying ex-mill against prepayment.

A 40-foot container typically takes 24 to 27 tonnes of paper or board, depending on grade, reel dimensions and the road weight limits in the destination country — roughly 25 tonnes as a rule of thumb. Sensible order sizes generally start at one container per delivery; mills also set minimum production lots per grade and grammage. Several items can often be combined into one shipment — talk to us and we will structure the delivery economically.

Intra-European deliveries by truck or rail often reach the customer within two to four weeks of the order, depending on mill loading. Overseas shipments, including production and ocean freight, generally take two to three months to the port of destination; for landlocked countries such as those in Central Asia, the onward rail or road leg is added. We state firm dates in the offer — and keep you informed of every shipment milestone from booking onwards.

We secure quality before the deal: technical data sheets form part of the contract, and for new grades or mills we work with samples and trial shipments before volumes grow step by step. Should a complaint nevertheless arise, we handle the claim in full: we review findings, photos and laboratory results, coordinate mill, surveyors and insurers, and pursue the case through to resolution — manufacturers can trace every production batch. Transport damage is covered according to the delivery basis: for CIF and DAP deliveries we provide the cargo insurance, and for other bases we advise you on suitable cover. And if a technically sound product does not run well on your line, we support you with application experience, down to machine settings.

For made-to-order production, quantity tolerances of around ±5% per item are customary, up to ±10% for small lots — paper machines produce to order, and exact tonnages to the kilogram are not technically achievable. For grammage, the tolerances of the manufacturers’ technical data sheets apply, typically in the order of ±2.5 to 4%. Both are fixed in the contract, so invoicing and expectation match from the outset.

Because SCT opens a sales channel without fixed costs into markets that rarely justify direct coverage for a single mill. Building your own sales operation in smaller or complex markets takes people, language and cultural knowledge, logistics expertise and patience — we bring all of that, together with an established customer base across Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia. You concentrate on production; sales, financing, logistics and customer support in the market are ours.

You sell to SCT — one contract, secured payment and full transparency on where your goods go. The payment and offtake risk in the market sits with us: we assess and insure the creditworthiness of the buyers, finance the payment terms, and handle dunning and claims on the ground. For your mill, a single, predictable counterparty remains.

From occasional to strategic: in spot business you place individual volumes without commitment — flexible, but of limited predictability. Under customer protection we serve specifically agreed buyers exclusively and invest accordingly in building them up. Under market representation we develop a country or region exclusively for you — with a joint pricing and assortment strategy, regular market reports and predictable volumes. Which form fits depends on product, capacity and your goals; many partnerships start in spot business and grow from there.

With a conversation about your product range, your available capacity and your target markets — followed by our honest assessment of what we can move for you, and where. From there the proven path: samples and first orders with selected buyers, joint review of the feedback, step-by-step volume growth. Regular market reports on prices, trends and opportunities are part of the package from day one.

Because demand is growing there that local supply can barely cover: per-capita consumption of paper and board is well below industrialised-country levels and rises with prosperity, while domestic production capacity is limited. At the same time, very few manufacturers supply these markets directly — they demand language and cultural knowledge, specialised logistics and financing. That is exactly the gap a specialised trading house fills: wholesalers and converters source their assortment from one counterpart, and manufacturers reach markets that would otherwise stay closed to them.

We are on the ground with our own sales offices in Kyiv and Tashkent, and the markets are served by native speakers who have known the buyers personally for years. The landlocked countries of Central Asia are supplied predominantly by rail — from Asia and from Europe at comparable cost and transit times — complemented by multimodal chains via seaports with onward rail or road legs. Rail traffic calls for its own documentation and handling expertise; that has always been one of our core competencies.