June Price Check: C‘board +$50/ton hike fully implemented on tight supply

Research evidence excerpt

June Price Check: C‘board +$50/ton hike fully implemented on tight supply

B’board demand mixed w/ URB strong, CRB weak

As for boxboard, prices were largely unchanged across coated recycled board (CRB),

coated unbleached kraft (CUK), solid bleached sulphate (SBS) & uncoated recycled board

(URB), as markets assess recently announced SBS price increases and upcoming URB

hikes for July. Overall, demand appears to be mixed, with continued softness in CRB

offset by strong conditions in URB and some improvement in SBS. All markets continue

to see building cost pressure. In URB, conditions remain tight with extended lead times

(8-9 weeks) and announced increases for July, though these have not yet been

implemented, while demand was described as strong across industrial applications.

Meantime in CRB, markets remain softer with steady to weak demand, adequate supply

and 4-week lead times. In CUK, markets were described as seasonally stable with solid

beverage demand. Wrapping up boxboard, SBS markets saw a modest improvement in

demand alongside tighter supply and longer lead times (6-8 weeks). The Nippon

Dynawave outage remains a factor but, overall, the article’s respondents suggest only a

partial implementation of the $60/ton June hike. Companies with exposure to b’board

include Greif (GEF; Neutral), Sonoco (SON, Buy) and SW. SON/GEF are comparatively

large in URB.

Pulp prices held or up in June

Lastly in pulp, prices were up $35/MT for northern and southern bleached hardwood

kraft (NBHK/SBHK) and up $65/MT for fluff pulp, while flat for northern and southern

bleached softwood kraft (NBSK/SBSK).

Recent Paper & Wood Product Prices

Exhibit 1: Paper & Wood Products Pricing

Benchmark pricing for the pulp, paper, paperboard, recovered paper and wood product markets