Demand for printing and writing paper remains weak, price negotiatios are moving slow.
Weak demand and sometimes overflowing warehouses are causing price declines on the British market for brown corrugated case material. In particular for recycled brown CCM grades, the pace of the price erosion is said to be “unheard of.” In the cartonboard segment, energy surcharges have been reduced to zero in light of lower natural gas prices. Base prices, however, remain stable in most cases. In a few instances, producers were able to implement price hikes in the folding boxboard segment. On the recovered paper market, prices for old corrugated containers retreated again after the unexpected leap at the end of November, while stable prices or slight declines were reported for most of the higher grades. Mixed paper was one exception and became slightly more expensive at the beginning of December.
Demand for printing and writing paper in the UK is described as weak amidst continued destocking by customers. Negotiations to set the prices in January on the publication paper market were still underway as of mid-December and are taking much longer than usual. Many customers want to negotiate price reductions, while producers aim to roll over December prices in the new year. The same is true on the fine paper market. Mark-downs were already reported in December for publication papers, while low-priced spot offers are available in the fine paper market.
This article is an excerpt from our monthly report on paper markets and prices in the UK. The full article and price details are available to our online and print subscribers.
