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Containerboard demand still rising in Brazil; kraftliner suppliers set price increases - Demand for corrugated boxes in Brazil remained strong in October 2024, according to all sources contacted by Fastmarkets this month, with a continuous positive momentum affecting negotiations in the country that were expected to last until the end of the year.
According to market participants, a combination of a stable macroeconomic environment for domestic demand, with a low unemployment rate and a more controlled inflation rate, has brought consumers’ appetites back, while the depreciation of the Brazilian Real against the US dollar has been supporting agriculture exports that must be packed.
US BSK pulp spot markets decrease $15-20/tonne from highs, BHK tumbles $20/tonne on BEK drag - In US pulp spot markets, bleached softwood kraft (BSK) continued a soft decline as buyers pared back remnants of this year’s first-half bull run. Bleached hardwood kraft (BHK) fell more sharply because imported eucalyptus prices competed at lower prices.
Benchmark northern bleached softwood kraft (NBSK) declined to $855-875/tonne net delivered to spot markets in the US East and Midwest through Oct. 18, down $15/tonne, according to Fastmarkets surveying. Since first decreasing in July, the that brought levels down a combined $80/tonne from June’s highwater mark.
Imported, domestic containerboard prices hold in Mexico; demand improvement expected in coming months: sources - After a slight price increase implemented in the domestic containerboard market last month, Mexican domestic prices were unchanged month on month in October, amid stable demand and in line with stability in import prices.
“The mills have been low on orders and fighting for the little that is available,” one source said.
Weak demand, along with an uncertain economic environment in the country, has led market participants to indicate that the recent price increase in containerboard is more closely tied to adjustments in old corrugated container (OCC) prices than to demand for corrugated boxes.
IP to shut 5 corrugated plants by mid-December, in what analyst said is part of a 'strategic, commercial, and cultural reset' - International Paper (IP) said it will permanently shut corrugated box plants in Cleveland, TN, Kansas City, MO, Rockford, IL, and Statesville, NC, and to close a sheet plant in San Antonio, TX.
“Operations will end at each of these packaging facilities on or before December 18, 2024,” an IP official told Fastmarkets’ PPI Pulp & Paper Week. “Additionally, employees at our sheet plant in San Antonio TX received notice in September that the facility was closing. Our departing team members will be offered severance packages, outplacement services and mental health resources. We greatly appreciate the many contributions our departing team members have made during their time with IP.”
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