Sector very buoyant despite challenges

OCC and other grades benefit from strong demand but supply chain and logistics issues remain. The containerboard market has remained strong in North

What happened

The containerboard market has remained strong in North America in Europe in the wake of higher demand for the product throughout the Covid pandemic, pulling up prices for old corrugated (OCC), mixed paper and brown grades. In the US, containerboard mills reported strong sales and earnings during the third quarter, despite continued supply chain interruptions and transportation snags for both incoming raw materials and outgoing products.

Why it matters

Moving into the fourth quarter, they were generally paying above US$ 200 per tonne for OCC in most regions of the US and buyers were not anticipating any relief during the final months of 2021.

During the first nine months of 2021, US containerboard production increased by 9% compared to the same period in 2020, according to the American Forest and Paper Association (AF&PA). The industry operating rate during the third quarter of 2021 was at 95.6% – a gain of 1.7 points compared to the third quarter of 2020, AF&PA reported.

Some of the tight supply experienced through the summer was relieved, as mill inventories of containerboard at the end of September increased by 31 500 tonnes from the end of the previous quarter and were up 17 200 tonnes compared to September 2020, it added.

This news brief is based on reporting published by Recycling International on 2021-12-01. The original report is linked below.