No further rise in recycled containerboard prices in Italy

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The upward movement of recycled corrugated case material prices has come to an end in April. Some respondents in the market see the challenge for producers in keeping prices stable now. Matching supply with demand seems to be unavoidable in the coming months.

April brought an end to spiralling prices on Italy's recycled corrugated case material market. Slow demand, coupled with dwindling recovered paper prices, made it impossible for manufacturers to lift their sales prices again. A number of EUWID sources felt that suppliers were rather unlikely to get a second bite of the apple in the second quarter. Keeping prices untouched for the next one to two months would be a success for many manufacturers, more pessimistic insiders said in April.

The gloomy state of Italy's economy weighed heavy on the packaging industry, buyers and sellers agreed. Some EUWID sources estimated that consumption had dropped by 15-20% in the first quarter compared with the same period last year.

It was not unusual for companies in the corrugated board industry to run at just 80% capacity and even then store some of their output because of a lack of buyers, one market observer said. Paper manufacturers needed to conduct drastic stoppages to come to terms with the surplus supply on Italy's recycled containerboard market, which was being exacerbated by imports from neighbouring countries, another source added. This was the only way to maintain prices at their current level until the summer.


⇒ This article is an excerpt from EUWID's monthly report on the Italian paper market. Price Watch Italy for April will be published in the next issue of EUWID Pulp and Paper coming out on 3 May.

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