GENERAL PAPER TRADE TOLERANCES

In 1988 the UK paper industry adopted a series of agreed trade tolerances that were then published in The British Paper and Board Trade Customs handbook published later that year. The vast majority of UK manufacturers signed up to this document and the following summary was extracted from it.

The table below links both systems.

Size tolerance

Precision sheeting & guillotine trimmed: +/- 2mm

Grammage Tolerance

40gsm and up: +/- 5%

Thickness

Applies only to those products sold primarily by thickness:

Up to & including 100 microns (i.e. 0.1millimetre): +/- 10% over 100 microns: +/- 7.5%

Making Quantity Variations

Ordered Quantity	Standard stock specification	Bespoke specification
Up to 1 tonne	+/- 10%	+/- 15%
Over 1 tonne but not exceeding 5 tonnes	+/- 5%	+/- 10%
Over 5 tonnes but not exceeding 10 tonnes	+/- 5%	+/- 7.5%
Over 10 tonnes but not exceeding 20 tonnes	+/- 3.75%	+/- 5%
Over 20 tonnes	+/- 2.5%	+/- 2.5%

NB: Where a minimum or maximum making quantity is specified ‘double tolerance’ will apply. E.g. If the order for a bespoke specification states ‘quantity must not exceed 2 tonnes’ the allowable tolerance becomes –20%: therefore the minimum permissible out turn quantity would be 1,600kgs. Had the grade been a standard stock specification double tolerance would of course permit –10%.

page top