Q1 Paper Outlook — Market Taking Stock

Inventory Reductions

There is some element of a self-fulfilling prophecy at work here. "Everybody in the system, including mills and printers, had brought their inventories down over the last two-and-half to three years," Samuels notes. "Suddenly, printers saw they could be stuck with no paper and started placing orders. Supply concerns have triggered a certain amount of hoarding of paper."