Greif announces recycled-content paperboard price increase

In what could be a positive sign for recycled paper collectors and shippers, Delaware, Ohio-based Greif Inc. is implementing a $40 to $70 per short ton increase for all grades of uncoated recycled paperboard (URB) it produces, plus a minimum 6 percent price increase on all tube and core and protective packaging products it makes.

The provider of industrial packaging products and services says the higher URB prices are effective with new orders and shipments beginning Feb. 5. The tube, core and protective packaging increases take effect one week later.

According to Greif, the URB price increase is in response to increased raw material, energy, labor and transportation costs and maintenance expenses, as well as increasing demand across the Greif paperboard network.

Old corrugated containers and other recovered paper grades are raw materials used to make URB. Greif operates several recycled-content paperboard mills that consume recovered fiber, including those it acquired when it purchased the former Caraustar in a transaction that was completed in early 2019.

The firm says the tube and core and protective packaging price increase is a consequence of the URB price increase, the primary raw material contained in those products.