German magazine paper prices set to rise as of January

Ongoing negotiations on LWC deliveries in the new year indicate that the paper manufacturers will succeed in raising prices but not to the announced extent. Bolstered by healthy machine operating rates, suppliers forged ahead to close contracts before Christmas and progressively finalised half-year agreements. Prices in the SC paper segment are set to rise as well with effect from 1 January, even though they were mostly settling in below manufacturers' envisaged targets. The impact of up- and downgrading trends is currently difficult to assess. Experts believe that cost-conscious customers will switch from LWC to SC paper for some printing jobs while significantly higher volumes could be switched from SC paper to newsprint.