Paper Outlook — Prices Are Going Soft

BY ERIK CAGLE

It was around this time last year that paper buyers were being hit with an increase of $3 per hundred weight; approximately 6.5 percent on a typical 40/45 lb. No. 4 or No. 5 sheet. What a difference one year makes.

As everyone else worries about whether their computers and household appliances will survive the Year 2000 (Y2K) bug scare or whether the new millennium party should start in 2000 or 2001, printers and their customers have other motivations to look toward the future with wonderment. No, call it glee. The paper market is soft to start the first quarter of 1999, with supply exceeding demand, and pricing could soften even more through the balance of the year.