Paper Outlook — No Woe, Status Quo

Mark Noe, purchasing manager for Broadview, IL-based Lehigh Cadillac Direct, agrees that, due to weakness in foreign economies, lower priced imports have become viable alternatives, even as domestics have seemingly bottomed out.

"It appears we have reached the lowest prices for the next 12 months," Noe remarks. "We may see some price recovery in the second half [of 1999], but in certain grades, they've reached their lowest prices in the last five years."