With me today, I have Espen Gunderson, our CFO and Georgiana Radoresco, our Head of IR. So it would be a pleasure for me to take you through the Q2 results of today. Esten will later go through the financial details Silvi Gipar. Next page, please, Giuliano. So it was a good quarter, Something really to be proud of.
Revenues increasing with 27%, strong development in collection solutions, Strong development in Recycling Mining, so 43% 33%, respectively, growth there in revenues And growth in Tomar Food, 6% after adjustment for currencies. Now when we talk about these strong growth numbers, We should, of course, not forget that last year, second quarter was our worst quarter when it comes to the pandemic. So here we are measuring ourselves against the weak quarter. But nevertheless, these are the numbers and they are strong. Gross margin was moving up, good contribution for Collection Solutions, predominantly product mix issues.
And operating expenses, good control. They would increase by 5%. So we are still Lower on a running level since a lot of measures were taken during the pandemic, and we have still not yet come back to The same activity levels when it comes to being able to travel out and meet customers, taking part in trade shows and so on. So Operating expenses are lower but increasing with 5% quarter on quarter. Strong development in earnings, EBITDA up 60% ending at NOK 465 1,000,000.
Strong cash flow resulting out of strong earnings and good working capital management. And all time high order intake, Growth of 38% for Recycling, Mining and Food combined. We have positive momentum in all divisions, all All segments and basically also in all geographies, which also now results in an all time high order backlog of just north of NOK 2,000,000,000, which is up 25% compared to last year. So COVID is still affecting our business, not dramatically and much better, of course, compared to last year. We have some small hiccups or lockdowns in parts of the world, especially right now, maybe in Australia a little bit more than anywhere else, but nothing dramatic.
What more is challenging is, of course, our inability to traveled to meet customers, to service customers and also delay in customer execution. We see that also on the revenue side. We could have delivered more. Tamara was capable of delivering more, but the customers were not ready. Especially when you have bigger complex installations, You need many suppliers to come in.
You need more teams for installation, for commissioning, for starting up of the operations. And that is not running as smooth as we have experienced it in the past. Beyond that, we also have Some challenges in terms of logistics, so hiring of containers, hiring of transport, those Access to it and cost of it is increasing, and there are areas of components that are challenged as well. So far, our team has been doing a great job in securing deliveries. So right now and what we can anticipate we are not affected negatively by access to components.
But of course, prices are going up for them and it remains an area of cautiousness. So most likely, if it continues, Situation will stabilize, but of course, we know there are new virus variants out there, and we just need to remain cautious and vigilant to the situation. But all in all, a strong quarter as you can see. And yes, With that, I go to the next element. Yes, that was 2, but that's perfect.
So Collection Solutions. All in all, very solid growth for the quarter. For the first half year, We have seen a tremendous development, much driven, of course, by the new market Holland here, which went live with a new deposit system or extended deposit system, we must say, July 1 this year. And that illustration you have on the top left corner is actually quite interesting, a little bit about the TOMRA story, which is, I would say, unique. So let me take you through that story line.
Remember, TOMRA was founded in 1972. And 1983 already, we thought Holland could be or the Netherlands could be an important market for us. So we established an entity there, 1983. Then it took almost 20 years until something happened. 2000 and 1, the legislators, the Minister of Environment decided that deposit on large bottles bigger than 0.8 liters would be introduced.
And that then went live in 2,005. So again, 20 years after a little bit more than 20 years after 1983. And that was only for large spotters, remember. Then in 2012, The system was really under attack. The industry, different eDis players tried to abolish it, tried to prove that it was possible to do good results without.
And the government allowed them to test out alternative solutions, but they failed. They did not deliver on these assumptions, on these promises. And now we have a completely new situation As of July 1 this year, also small PET bottles are included. And in 2022, we will then have aluminum cans also. And then the system would be what we call a complete system.
So this is really telling you a little bit about The long time it takes, the tenacity it takes from a play like TOMRA to be there to support, to influence, demonstrate results. And so I never, never give up. And I must say, our Dutch team here, together with our governmental affairs team have been working tremendously on this case over the years. A lot of innovation, a lot of passion, many battles that we don't see in this illustration. So I'm quite proud of it.
And again, if you follow Tom Rath, this illustrates a little bit how we work and what makes us unique. And of course, our industry as such is unique in itself. No one Other industry has this deposit system, but they might have similar regulations. So Good quarter, very solid quarter really. Espen will take you through the numbers.
The story on Holland, which went live now on July 1, I think was worth talking about. Now if you look at the right side, we have 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 new markets coming up. If you look in a period of time about 12 little bit north of 12 months, starting January 2022, We are now expecting more new markets or market extensions than we have ever had in the history. So Slovakia, Latvia, which is by the way, we were awarded the contract, as you remember, and the contract was not signed yesterday. So again, a great achievement here.
Scotland, potentially delayed here, but hopefully not. Then we have the Netherlands, the 2nd leg, as I talked about the cans. Victoria and Australia and a modernization of the Connecticut system, which is very well appreciated by us. Connecticut has had deposit systems since many, many years. Now they're actually increasing their deposit a value from €0.05 to €0.10 which we anticipate will lead to much higher collection volumes and a modernization and a more robust system.
So that was a challenge system in the past. I think this decision will hopefully bring it to a good hopefully world class system over time. So collection, they will actually be up for a little bit of a slower period now for a couple of quarters, Espen will talk about that, but there's a lot of potential in the future and a very strong first half year here. With that, I would like to move on to about recycling and mining. So recycling, as you know, we are in the sorting of many waste Fractions, so everything from plastics, metals, household waste or municipal solid waste, we call that, Industrial waste, we're talking about construction, demolition waste, so in many sectors.
Tomra has a leading position here with a global market share of estimated 55%. We were through a little bit slower period. 3 quarters last year, we had a lower order intake, But now we have seen a robust rebound and a growth here in this year of order intake of 30 let me see now, 38%, I think. So strong 48%, sorry, strong comeback there in order intake and also good revenues growth in the quarter. We have seen good Drive through higher commodity prices, you can see on the top right figure there the PET values both for Recycled PET, ARPET and for virgin PET.
So the commodity prices are higher. That's important for the industry. That's also an indication of high demand. But we also had a good catch up now in metals. Metals has been weak during the year And commodity prices demand is increasing.
We see global demand improving here. So again, this business is in a solid stage, and we anticipate it will be attractive also going forward. Some of the drivers here, there is a lot of potential to get much more plastic out of the household waste than we do today. So more than double the amount. And that's important because in order to transform the world to circular economy, we need that feedstock feedstock of material.
So we need to learn how to extract the material out of municipal solid waste. And TOMRA is having the technologies to do that. So that's something we're going to work on focusing on going forward. Then, of course, the increased quality demand. In order to use plastics in new products, we need to raise the quality level, create standards.
Here again, the high precision sorting of TOMRA is critical. I will talk a little bit about it, Palisterine, shortly, And they will give you an example of that. But that's critical. And this is a sector we see strong demand. So we actually We talk about plastics upgrading.
So in recycling facilities, where you now take it to a new level, making it really top quality products or material. Then we have the regulations and financial incentives. We think the European plastics tax is very interesting and very important. You might recall that the European Union imposed a tax of €800 per tonne, which is not far away from the Tradable values of plastic, you can see that in the graph up there. So a significant amount.
So if you use Virgin Plastics, you have to pay such a fee. If not, if you use recycled, you can avoid that one. So it's a stimulation for circular economy. You can see, United Kingdom is having their tax, €200 per ton. Italy and Spain are going with a tax of €450 per tonne.
So things are happening here, but this initiative still has to shape up and be implemented fully. But it's a good signal and it's a strong signal to the industry that things are happening and plastic cannot be wasted. It needs to be recycled. And that's all good for Tomra. With that, I'd like to go over and talk a little bit about the food business we have.
So as you might recall, food was really challenged, especially the process side over the last 2 years. 2019, we had the trade war between European between U. S. And China, which is still ongoing, affecting about $11,000,000,000 of food exports out of U. S.
To China. So that was a major disruption for the U. S. Food Suppliers and still affecting them. And then, of course, the pandemic, which hit the food service sector, which is about 50% of the U.
S. Food consumption and 40% of the European food consumption. And when all these restaurants and the catering and food services closed down due to the with regulations pandemic related, they that part of the business really died out. People continue to consume food, of course, so more through retail consumption and home consumption, but the industry was affected badly. Now we see much more positive momentum.
So processed food is really coming back. We saw strong growth in Potatoes in nuts, which are critical categories for us and dried fruit. So that is coming back, but it's still not up to full momentum, but it's growing and the market sentiment is improving as we go on here. Fresh food was really never an issue. It's been hot Demand.
It's been strong market momentum throughout the pandemic and still continues to be so. So for us, we see strong Demand, particularly in cherries and kiwifruit right now, also blueberries continues to be strong. And As you know, TOMRA is also world number 1 in food sorting and grading with an estimated market share of some 30% globally in this big, vast industry. So something really to watch out for the year, and it's good to see that the market is strengthening again. Some few highlights on the potatoes side here.
We sort about 30% to 40% of all potatoes being grown in the world. So that's a big category. As you know, we're a big, yes, breed of products. And we peel some 70% to 80% of all the potatoes being processed into, say, French fries. And here, of course, now working with the data, which we are investing in, is increasingly important to maximize the yield, improve performance and helped operators to reduce their burden to run it.
So quarter on quarter, potatoes was up 38%. So it's a good sign of what's happening in the food business. Yes, with that, I'll happy to go to the next page, And that would be about circular economy. And this is a busy slide, so I hope I will be able to take you through it. As you know, we started our circular economy division 2019.
So we recognized there would be a big Movement, big demand for closed loop solutions where you're not only recycle, but you really take the material back into new products. And we wanted to be leader in that segment and took a really strong drive and focus, put our best people into leading that business and building that business. And it's been shaping up tremendously. And today, I want to talk about specific success, And that's the material called polystyrene, which stands for about 6% of the plastics. So it's not the biggest fraction, but it's an important fraction.
Polystyrene is very similar to PET. It has some unique properties. It has some barriers so that the contamination from outside do not enter into the plastic. So that makes that plastic better for food grade. So PET and PS are good for food grade.
But polystyrene has been under attack. It's been seen as a problem. And therefore, in 2018, the Styrenex industry formed Starini Circular Solutions, very much formed through the chemical industry in order to tactical problem. And of course, initially, they were looking for chemical recycling of the material. And we then came in contact with SCS in 2019.
And in 2020, we joined them. We then started making some tests with the aim to show them that it's possible to deliver food grade Polystyrene out of mechanical recycling, which is where we really have our long experience. And we started doing some manual works, and then we implemented our new facility in Germany, together which we do with Borealis, as you we have talked about before. And there, we have now been able to process 40 tonnes for them and been able to prove that we can deliver 99.9% pure material out of normal Household waste coming out to Germany and Norway. So really the source you want to address it from, So the municipal solid waste getting collected from the consumers, then extracting the polystyrene out of that predominantly yogurt cans, treating that through sorting, washing, flaking and making that into new product.
Now we are at the stage that we are have submitted our application to European authorities and to Swiss Food Authorities to approve this product for food grade. And if that happens, we have really made, I would call a revolution in the industry. And this is exactly what Tom raised about. This is exactly what we're going to achieve with circular economy. So this is something to watch out for.
And if we succeed with this, we should get a medal because this is really a big showcase for transforming how we can use waste and make new products, food grade out of that. And again, it's an important sector. So Sorry for talking long, but I'm very excited about this whole initiative. And let's Keep our fingers crossed actually that we go all the way and get it full grade approved. With that, I will hand over to Espen and let him take you through the financials.
Thank you.
Thank you, Stefan. As always, We took currencies. We experienced in Q1 last year a significant depreciation of Norwegian krona. So the cold figures we have for Q2 this year is very influenced by currencies. And consequently, please look at currency adjusted figures as you have some headwind on Currency, particularly against the dollar but also against the euro.
Moving to next page on the P and L, as Stefan said, it really is a strong month. We have 60% Currency adjusted growth in the quarter. All divisions are contributing, but in particular, the collection And recycling divisions are 43 percentage points and 33 percentage points, currently adjusted up. So In addition, we have improved gross margins. It's partly about a somewhat low margin in collection last Yes, COVID related, but also very strong mix effects on the margin side in connection this year.
Cost is overall under good control. We have 12% Well, currently adjusted, but please also keep in mind the investments we have JV. In Circle economy, we are now on €50,000,000 round figures on quarterly cost on the Circle Economy initiatives from 10% same quarter last year reported as part of the TRM division's OpEx And also all the ramp up cost in collections, which on figures was SEK 20,000,000 last year, now SEK 30,000,000. It's what we Spend over and above was a normal for preparing for new markets because of all those opportunities that we see out Yes, which we need to position ourselves upon. So even with those increases, So we see the quarter ended at 4.65%.
And it's 104% off from last year. It's 17.3 percent EBITA margin, so actually very close to our long term financial target of 18%. Of course, as I said, we have low configure, EC configures because of Q2 last year was really the COVID quarter. But if we go back and also compare ourselves with Q2 'nineteen, meaning going 2 years back, the figures are very strong. You see the graphs on the bottom left and bottom right I see that, yes, Q2 'twenty split out in a negative way, but Q2 this year is also standing out Significantly in a positive way regardless of what quarter you are comparing against.
So moving to the diligence, the Collection has a lot of recurring revenues. Almost 50% of revenues is service related, which is kind of per definition, recurring. And the older part comes then income sales, a lot of that's also recurring, not the 10 years in the new machine. So the bottom, the collection business is very stable and usually don't fluctuate very much between quarters and years. But Then you have the events and understanding Thomas' performance.
It's important to understand when you have these events and the events we have been Benefiting from the last two quarters, in particular, German Netherlands, which Stefan mentioned, introduction on Deposit on small bottles with commencement 1st July this year and also Germany, which has We'll, during September, get new requirements of security market leaders, which increase the price of the projects on both. So we see additional orders coming in and have been delivered upfront of that. So the increase in revenues, 21 versus 20, even in the Europe ex Morgan is mainly stemming from digital markets and is an event that we currently are benefiting from. On margin side, Op, as I mentioned, because of good mix and low comp figures And OpEx is increasing due to ramp up costs in the particular. So bottom line, 20 Percent EBITDA margin and one of the absolutely best margins we have ever recorded in collection history.
Moving on to the cycling mining. Starting on the bottom left, The order intake was hit by the COVID situation for the 3 Last quarters last year, but we have seen a good uptick starting 1st quarter and it continued this quarter. So we have an all time high order backlog order intake. Also, the order backlog has increased. There are probably some projects that have been somewhat delayed, Not from our side, but it's more of your customers that are not prepared to take delivery because of the vendors and so on has Been delayed.
So there are some challenges in that area, but so sorry, in a more normal world, we probably could have delivers somewhat more out of the order backlog, but it gives us a good position going into 3rd and 4th quarter with this high order backlog and a general good momentum that Stefan talked about. On the P and L, we recorded SEK439,000,000 in revenues. That's up on the 60% commercial ratio we indicated last quarter. We have some OpEx increase, but remember, investments were due in circular economy. And bottom line, NOK 94,000,000, 21%, came in as a decent quarter.
Moving on to food. Again, looking at the order situation, we feel it was at a very good trajectory before COVID hit us looking at Intake development throughout 'nineteen, but then we got 3 low quarter lower quarters, Particularly, the Process segment did go down. Now we have increased order intake and it's the 3rd consecutive We cooperate with higher order intake and we also have built a strong backlog. And also in Food, we have All time high order backlog by the end of this quarter. On the P and L side, we indicated 75% conversion rate, though, ended up 73.5%, so slightly below the indication.
But we managed 43% on the margin side, very good OpEx control in full. So we are flattish in fixed currencies, brings the EBITDA margin up to 14%. On the balance sheet, We remember there are seasonalities. The material recovery business in the U. S.
It's tying up working capital during the summer months because it mirrors the drilling consumption and we have higher activity and then Working capital during those months quarters. So it's usually more meaningful to compare yourself With the balance sheet 12 months ago and not 6 months ago. And during that, there's not really many items standing out So if you adjust for currencies, the working capital has improved compared to 1 year ago, and that also is reflected That's in the cash flow from operations, as you see on the graph on the top right side. So both Q2 and year to date, So we are doing better on cash flow from operations than we did in the same quarters and half years last year. Still a solid balance sheet, close to 50% equity, low gearing.
And this is also Sure. The dividend of SEK 3 per share that was paid out back in May. Next slide. We have SEK 876,000,000 of unused available funding sources, 2.5 years weighted average debt maturity. So we are in a good position.
Access So Chief Finance Officer is actually a easy job to be the CFO of this company when IR. Moving on to the outlook statements. IR, no doubt, very much influenced by In a positive way by all the macro drivers that helps us. There's a lot of focus on green tech companies, but we are really in the middle of this. And then There are very concrete demands out there, and we have very concrete solutions for many of these Sensor based sorting solutions is really something the world needs in all three divisions.
Finding solutions on the plastic challenges, finding circular solutions and so on is really what the world is looking So I'm very optimistic and confident on the opportunities that we have in Hetaloros. At the strategy session, one of our board members said that through his 30 years in business, I've never seen the company with so many opportunities that Sonra has today. And I think management also can't confirm that. So the overall picture is just not hard to do very good. We also have To accept that, to delivering upon these opportunities, to capture those opportunities, we need to invest.
So going forward, we also feel it should increase costs compared to the cost base we have today. It goes for all divisions. And some quarters, So you will probably see that OpEx increased higher than revenues for execution, enabling us to execute on this. You also have to remember that we have been through a period of low or negative OpEx increase During the COVID period, no or well limited traveling, limited use of consultants, some initiatives put on hold To be on the cautious side, and now the things normalize and the market is opening up again, we also built for that reason see Some higher cost in some quarters, which will happen because, Of course, we have been more digital and we will not travel as much as we've done previously, but there will be more traveling, for instance. And this will also be reflected in accounts in the quarters to compare.
So this is also things you have to take with you when you look at the total Take Truman opportunities. If you go into the divisions in collection, there are currently very high Activity related to preparations for new markets. Stefan pointed out the 6, 7 markets that That's close in time. There are also several others which are in pipeline. The government obviously have set the firm dates Yes.
But that is also likely that will materialize. So This will be some volatility around the quarterly performance in collection. We have had Netherlands And Germany, the last quarters, Germany will continue into Q3. Netherlands will go down now with the commencements on the first Part of the race is we have reached that date. Then we get Slovakia, which we will compensate a lot for this.
Timing, a little uncertain how big our opportunity will be. Still a little uncertain, but it's definitely a good opportunity also. It will replace a lot of this revenue that will disappeared. Then we're going into next year, getting Latvia, which is a triplet market. So consequently, their revenue will come over time will get some start up costs.
So this will also influence the performance. And then going into second half of next Here, you have many new markets that might materialize that will both cost in respect of investment but also represent great revenue opportunities. So all in, we think that will occur to be quarters where OpEx increasing more than revenues And in particular, the period between Q4 this year and Q2 next year will be very dependent upon the outcome of both positions and also the timing of costs that we need to absorb to position ourselves for the coming quarters. Recycling Mining, good momentum. We Check the conversion ratio of 60%, meaning revenues upcoming quarter will be 60% Of the current order backlog, again, this is not guiding, just an indication for those of you that want to model us on a quarterly basis.
So in the long run, we think we are really set up for good growth. Short term, still COVID could influence negatively. But both in the plastic side and also the commodity price in metals are helping these segments, increasing the momentum. And with The commercial data indicated you also see it's a good quarter coming up in recycling. In food, The estimated conversion ratio was 70%, 7.0%.
Also that indicating a good quarter coming up. Also the segment where COVID still potentially has some negative challenges, but we are also confident in the meantime or long term That we are in the right industry with the right products and good years are to come. At the end, I just want to mention currencies. Remember, always adjust for that This is Fluctoet. Stefan mentioned also component shortage, Portation challenges, we are almost a global company.
We are having long bandage chains. We are Exposed to many of the other risks that other companies are, I think in general, we have the situation under control. I don't think, It's to my knowledge that we have needed to delay deliveries to customers so far because of Component shortages are all these challenges, at least not in a material way, but it has been think we have managed to reengineer and find ways around. And going forward, we still maintain a risk. We think the risk is under control, but we also want to point out that this also could negatively influence us because this is partly out of control.
It's not only about us, it's about other suppliers and our self suppliers' ability to deliver upon their obligation towards us. So with that, I think we come to our page. And since this is Stefaan's last presentation with us, Maybe it's a good time to look a little bit back and reflect a little bit on what's been done the last 12 years and your leadership, Stefan.
Yes. Thank you, Espen. Well, yes, it's not so much to I would actually like to talk more about the future than the past, but let's Just go through a little bit quickly. For me, I tell you, I think TOMRA is as close to what you can define as a perfect company. We have a Very meaningful purposeful business.
We do good for environment, for reducing food waste, for Addressing greenhouse gas emissions for reducing plastic waste in oceans, on land, by that also reducing greenhouse gas emissions. So the purpose is really strong. And we have the technologies that can transform industries to deliver better results and new solutions on that. So transformation is really key here. We had a super strong culture in Tamara, and we have seen that times over and over again, how the teams talked about Netherlands before, how they have fought that battle and delivered on a very viable good solution.
Look at how we build up Australia. Look at how people are now creating circular economy out of nothing basically and how our team in food is transforming their categories for both process and the footprint. And last but not least, how collection is just Coming into new growth trajectory, we have also been very privileged by having Such good shareholders like your good self, thank you. We have very few times had challenges. You have understood our need to invest.
You have supported us in that, and you have supported us all in all. You are and you have been stable. And you have also been rewarded, I think so. So that's good. But that's part of our job to deliver shareholder value.
But really, We would like to thank you for that. What we've done in the years, basically, when I started in 2009, it was 85% collection business. We have then recycling mining as a kind of startup business. PAMA was not growing. We have been able to grow it every year now since then.
We have built the food division. We are now number 1 in the world in collection solutions. We're number 1 in the world in mining and recycling and number 1 in food. So strong player with very meaningful technologies that has so much more potential. But because when we add data And the connectivity to it in the future with artificial intelligence, extracting data, I think there's even more value out of it than we deliver today.
So a lot of opportunities. And as we know, the world is really going our way when it comes to the mega trends. When it comes to regulatory changes, it really calls for more of the TOMRA offering out there. Ultimately, we must never forget, we are here to deliver on values to our customers. So that's at the core of TOMRA every day, Everybody in TOMRA.
So premium value to our customers is really what we do with our technologies, With our service people, with our sales and consultants and all the team behind, we're thinking about R and D, operations and administration. So we are all tuned in to serve our customers. We have expanded into food, as I mentioned. We have also expanded in many geographies so that we are reaching out more to almost every market. So we are in all continents now where we have business, maybe not in the Antarctica and Arctic, but beyond that, really in all continents.
And we are on a growth trajectory. I believe that Tamara has much more potential in the future than we have delivered in the past, And that's more important to me than what we have delivered. So Tove Andersson will take over on August 16. I'm very happy for this choice of new leader, and wish her all success in that role. It's a fantastic team she will be working with, And it's a fantastic business.
I also would like to finalize with saying that we are now really playing in a different league. So if you think traditionally, most companies, they are a supplier of a technology. But look how Tamara is moving beyond that now, taking the collection business where we have a strategic partnership with Cleanaway in Australia. We're now looking for how we can do more in with Viridor. We're taking a bigger role than just supplying reverse vending machines.
We're really being an integral part of that system, adding more value to the market, adding more value to TOMRA and increasing the robustness. On top of that, which is already strong development itself, we are stepping up and building this circular economy. And if we look into the future, think of the big e commerce place like taking Amazon, Alibaba, I just used a few names and there are many of them out there. They will those who deliver products, they will need to have sustainable packaging. Otherwise, Their growth trajectory will be limited by regulations and by analytics.
So they need to handle the waste they generate. They need to have sustainable packaging. That's something Tamara can do. If they are on top of that delivering food products like Yingong or Alibaba are doing well, then they will also need a full supply, and they will need to guarantee the full quality. So the relevance and the way we tie this together now is actually very unique.
And we have the Sensor technology has caught in everything we do, and here we are continuing to focus in. And going forward, continue to invest in new markets, continue to innovate both when it comes to sensors, machines and on the last but not least, digital side, makes me very excited. So I believe that closing the door now after 12 years, I'm very proud of what has been done. I express my gratitude From the bottom line in my heart to all of the Tomray employees that have been supporting me and supporting the leadership team in this development, to the shareholders, to the Board, And I can only wish you great success going forward. And I firmly believe TOMRA is going to be A greater success tomorrow than it was yesterday.
So with that, I close and thank you. And now we open up for questions and answers.
Thank you, Stefan. We have the first question is coming from Andreas On collection, you talked about modernization of the system in Connecticut. Do you see orders on the short term? And how big is the opportunity compared to In countries like the Netherlands or Slovakia?
Yes. It's Connecticut has been a deposit market for many years, but the same way as several of the older U. S. Markets has been a €0.05 deposit markets and they are now increasing from a nickel to a dime in deposit. And this will help the system in general because 5% was maybe An okay amount 20 years ago, but due to inflation and so on, it starts to become a little irrelevant.
So if you don't adjust The deposit values, the return rates will decrease. We can actually plot The return rates versus the deposit value around the world and then see a very high correlation in markets like Germany where we have €25, You have return rates around 98% in 5% markets in the Northeast So U. S, for instance, you are in the 60s at this. So just the fact that they are juggling The deposit amount is positive for deposit system as such. There are also Some more volume going through, all carbonated drinks will now be part of the system.
And important also is that increased the handling fee, meaning the retailers or redemption centers that Taking back the empties, you'll now get paid for this. And this will make it more financially attractive to invest In Technology and Machines, I would assume from the top of my head, there are a bit more than 1,000 machines in Connecticut today. And it will be possible to both review and sell some new machines as this materialized. But it's not today. It's coming, it's quite the next year's, these initiatives.
So it is not something that we influence Our report is material in the short term. But over the next years, it will have a positive impact and also in particular because we See that now the Northeast states in U. S. Are working with something on the deposit systems, and I hope The only ones will come after in due time.
Thank you. The next question is from Daniel Haubland from ABG. You mentioned higher commodity prices will negatively influence Production costs of own products. Could you give some more color on this? To what degree are you able to pass these costs On to the customers.
So there is, in general, a cost increase on almost all, So components and materials today. But I also think this is partly preliminary. Well, things started to normalize and things are becoming a balance. I think some of these prices will go down again. But We, like most other companies, do experience increased cost and we have processes To pass this on to customers, I think customers in general are up here of Nissan and also to some extent accept it.
So that's our costs on January has been 3%, 4% higher during the year. Due to this, I Yes. But I do not think in the long run, we will continue to see this. And hopefully, some of this will revert back over time also. This is How precise I can be on this.
Wonderful for the time being.
Thank you, Sven. I see we don't have other questions going forward. So if anything comes later on, We can answer it by e mail to the people who have sent us the question. So that was it from the Q and A side.
Let me just say, Espen, Georgiana, thank you very much. It's been a privilege to be part of this team together with you. And thank you all to our employees. I'm really feeling privileged which the support you have given me. Thank you.
Thank you, Stefan.
Thank you.