Paper Buyers Catch "e-Wave"

According to Andrew Paparozzi, chief economist for the NAPL, paper markets should continue to tighten and prices rise, with an anticipated strong growth for the U.S. economy this year backed by a recovering Asian economy. It is a trend that may well last throughout the calendar year.

Trends, like rules, are made to be broken—as witnessed by the summer of 1999 price hike that shook paper purchasers from a year-long slumber. While paper prices do not have a history of short-term volatility, at least one fairly recent development has the potential to make more than a few waves, not only in price structure, but in the manner in which paper is transacted: Internet-based paper trade hosting sites.