Sonoco Hiking Prices

Sonoco announced that it will be raising the price of uncoated recycled paperboard by $50 per ton. The price increase is effective June 4.

Jim Bowen, Sonoco’s senior vice president -- global paper operations, said, "We are initiating this increase as a partial pass through of increasing costs in energy, logistics, insurance, raw materials and other operating costs. Of course, we will continue to minimize the net costs that we must pass to our customers by maximizing rigorous cost-reduction and value-adding initiatives, just as we have done since our last increase almost two and one- half years ago."

The price of old corrugated containers, a key raw material for Sonoco, has exploded over the past several months. While many domestic mills have been unable or unwilling to announce price hikes for recycled content paperboard, sharp price increases, driven by strong offshore orders, has resulted in stronger demand by domestic mills as they attempt to keep the flow of material through their door.