Paper Outlook — Another Notch in the Market's Belt

"The price increases are substantial and well-established," Paparozzi reports. "However, the key thing here is that paper is still readily available, and that is what we watch very, very closely,"

Yet, when these figures are compared with polling results from March 1999, it is evident that with the rise in price, paper availability has tightened slightly. In March 1999, when prices were just beginning to rise, only 25 percent said that paper prices were rising, according to Paparozzi. However, in March 1999, 10.3 percent of those polled felt that paper was less available compared with March 2000, where 16 percent noted that paper is less available.