Paper Market Update — Paper Industry Strikes Out

"We encourage customers to place paper orders early to ensure availability and caution them on the risk of solely shopping on price rather than establishing themselves with a dependable supply source," he adds.

Dethloff expects the demand for all coated grades to be very strong throughout the rest of this year. "Price increases on lightweight coated groundwood grades were announced for deliveries beginning July 1," he points out. "However, we would be surprised to see any price increases announced for third quarter delivery of coated free sheet grades because it will take a while for demand to surpass inventories."