Paper Outlook — Prices Are Going Soft

What's bad news for the Asian economy, says William K. Traub, vice president of marketing for Brown Printing, is a sigh of relief for paper purchasers.

"Part of it is that the Asian economy is in terrible shape. Ad pages are up overall, but off slightly from the original forecast, and some catalog mailings are down," Traub remarks. "You know the paper market is soft when there are price reductions in the fall.