The Catablog
Posts Tagged ‘paper’
Paper Price Increases Announced
Over the past few days, the majority of paper mills in North America have announced a paper price increase of $1.50/cwt, or between 2.5 and 4% overall. These paper price increases will take effect with all new orders and any existing orders with ship dates of July 1st and after. They affect coated freesheet and groundwood grades, as well as some super calendared grades. All basis weights and finishes are affected.
The following mills have announced an increase:
- NewPage
- Verso
- West Linn
- Appleton Coated
- UPM
- Kruger
- AbitibiBowater
There are a few mills (most notably Sappi) that have yet to announce an increase. As long as a major mill like Sappi has not announced, there is hope that these announced increases will not hold. I do not see this happening, however, as mill after mill is citing increased input costs (especially pulp and those inputs that contain anything relating to resin or petroleum-based products) as a main driver for these announcements. I believe that the reason these few mills have not announced yet is that they are looking to further fill their backlog of orders and that they will announce an increase when they are full.
We at Arandell will be doing everything we can to mitigate these as much as possible. Should the situation change, we will be the first to let you all know.
If you have any questions, or if I can be of any help, please just let me know.
Thank you,
Blake Hutchison
Vice President, Procurement
866-810-7728
Update: NewPage Delays Paper Price Increase Announcement
NewPage has delayed this price increase announcement on web grades until the second quarter of 2011 (starting April 2011).
At this time, we have not received any other price increase announcements, but I would imagine that we may see some as the second quarter approaches. Stay tuned…
Contact Blake Hutchison:
800-558-8724
Unexpected NewPage Paper Price Increase
We didn’t see this one coming!
NewPage has announced a paper price increase on all of their coated and supercalendered grades, effective with confirmed delivery dates of 1/10/11 or later.
The increase is in the 2% – 4.5% range.
So far, no other paper mills have followed suit. Stay tuned…
If you have questions, please feel free to contact me at 800-558-8724, ext. 165 or BJHutchison@Arandell.com.
More Domestic Paper Price Increases Announced
The North American paper manufactures are at it again. Recently, a new wave of price increases have been announced. Here is what we are seeing from the likes of Verso Paper, NewPage, Sappi, AbitibiBowater, West Linn, etc:
Coated freesheet (CFS): 4 – 5% increase
Coated groundwood (CGW): 5.5 – 7% increase
Some grades, such as supercalendared (SC) will see increases as high as seven to 10%. Most of these announcements take effect with shipments on or after September 15, 2010. All brand extensions, basis weights and finishes are included in these announcements.
These latest increases come at a time where operating rates on CGW products are still very high and lead times are still six weeks for some products. Operating rates for CFS products at some mills are still high, although we are beginning to see a slowing of demand as the busy season for paper making begins to come to an end.
You may have also heard that some mills recently announced dramatically low second quarter earnings. Coincidence? I think not. The North American mills are still hurting from the loss of the Black Liquor tax credit and they are looking to make up that loss with high prices.
If you have questions about how your paper pricing will be affected by these increases, please feel free to contact me at 800-558-8724.
New Round of Paper Price Increases Announced and Lead Times Creeping Out
We have been bombarded the past few days with price increase announcements from our North American mill partners.
Below is a listing of which mills have announced, how much they are initially going to increase their prices, and when they will take effect:
Sappi:
Coated freesheet (CFS) web products (all finishes)
55# and up – $1.00/cwt
50# and below – $3.00/cwt
Effective immediately on new and unconfirmed orders
West Linn:
CFS products (all finishes) – $2.00/cwt
Effective with all orders placed on or after May 21st and on any existing orders shipping on or after June 1st
Appleton Coated:
CFS products (all finishes) – $2.00/cwt
Effective with orders shipping on or after June 1st
Verso Paper:
CFS products (all finishes) – $2.00/cwt
Coated Groundwood (CGW) products (all finishes) – $3.00/cwt
Effective with new orders entered and all existing orders shipping on or after June 1st
NewPage:
CFS products (all finishes) – $2.00/cwt
CGW products (all finishes) – $3.00/cwt
Effective with new orders entered and all existing orders shipping on or after June 1st
Evergreen:
CGW products (all finishes) – $3.00/cwt
Effective with new orders entered and all existing orders shipping on or after June 1st
AbitibiBowater:
CGW products (all finishes) – $3.00/cwt
Effective with new orders entered and all existing orders shipping on or after June 1st
Kruger:
CGW products (all finishes) – $3.00/cwt
Effective with new orders entered and all existing orders shipping on or after June 1st
UPM:
CGW products (all finishes) – $3.00/cwt
Effective with new orders entered and all existing orders shipping on or after June 1st
FutureMark:
CGW products (all finishes) – $3.00/cwt
Effective with new orders entered and all existing orders shipping on or after June 1st
Catalyst
CGW products (all finishes) – $3.00/cwt
Effective with new orders entered and all existing orders shipping on or after June 1st
In discussing these increases with our mill partners, one theme has been constant: they are raising prices to curb the continued pricing depression as well as alleviate pressures from rising input costs. Pulp prices have been rising, and there is no more money coming in from the Black Liquor tax credit. We will continue to be diligent and do everything we can to mitigate these increases as much as possible.
Lead times for both CFS and CGW grades are creeping out. CFS is out anywhere from three to five weeks, and some CGW grades are already out six weeks. I would encourage each and every one of our clients to get your paper orders in as quickly as possible to ensure availability.
If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to email me or call me at 800-558-8724
Thank you.
Electronic vs. Printed Communication: The Sustainability Battle (Part III)
I’ll try to keep this short and sweet. The idea of full lifecycle analysis of print and paper versus digital and electronic communication seems to be gaining steam. The result: print and paper might not be as bad as advertised and perhaps we should be focusing more of our attention on the digital and electronic media.
In honor of Earth Day, I thought it might be a good time for a follow-up on my previous posts about the sustainability battle between electronic and printed media.
Let me be clear: I am not advocating the elimination of digital media. On the contrary, I am a big supporter of it. What I am not a fan of is the false notion that paper and print are more harmful to the environment than digital. If you really dig deep and think of the total lifecycle of a product, you can clearly see how that particular product, from cradle to grave (or cradle to cradle) has the ability to impact the environment.
I recently came across a couple of articles that correspond directly with what I am trying to achieve through this dialogue; one from the New York Times and one from PBS. In addition, this post from the Dead Tree Edition blog discusses what one publication did to fully understand what its environmental footprint really is.
Point is, let’s really think about these matters in a way that encompasses everything.
I look forward to hearing your feedback on this post. Feel free to contact me any time!
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