Paper

The strength in old corrugated (OCC), old news (ONP) and mixed paper grades continues to drive the market. Activity for these grades on the West Coast has been abetted by a combination of strong buying by mills in the Northwest matched with steady buying offshore.

In the Northwest, there are a number of reports of some paperboard mills pulling from more California regions to ensure enough OCC is being delivered. To obtain the material, some vendors say a number of Northwest mills are paying prices higher than market to maintain an adequate supply of material. Prices are moving up above the $150 a ton level in many regions.

Along with the demand from China, Mexican activity has been fairly strong for many of the low grades. A change in furnish requirements by some mills in Mexico has helped push prices for many of the low grades.

While OCC and other bulk and low grades are moving at a strong clip, there is an ample amount of mill downtime cropping up. Despite many mills shutting down for maintenance, handlers of the grade report no problem finding waiting markets.

In the Southeast, several paper stock operations report that despite ample downtime throughout the region, movement remains good. One Southeast packer states he has no trouble moving material, even with downtime at some big OCC consuming mills.

Northeastern markets also are seeing strong improvements in the OCC and mixed paper grades.