Q1 Paper Outlook — Market Taking Stock

Lester Samuels, co-managing partner of Pictorial Offset in Carlstadt, NJ, says he can pinpoint exactly when the market for web papers turned. "It happened on Friday, November 15th," he recalls. "We started getting calls from the mills to notify us that they were going on allocation. Paper that was immediately available for shipment from a mill went to having a four-, six- or eight-week delivery date. The change seemed to happen at all the mills at the same time."