Q3 Paper Outlook — Predictable Patterns

"Another 5-percent increase would be completely in line—that's three dollars per hundredweight for a typical sheet," Janis assesses.

However, not everyone in the industry is anticipating a jump in paper prices this summer. Some analysts are projecting that prices have currently hit a peak and are going to slide, due in part to the Nova Scotia startup of Stora North America's supercalendered paper machine, reportedly the widest and fastest SC machine in the world.