Containerboard prices are stable in North America and Asia but Kraft Liner prices declined slightly in January.

PackTrack (Green Bay, Wis., USA) is projecting flat to lower prices on average for North America and other regions for 2019 on softer economic growth and over-supply of recycled containerboard. Input costs for secondary fibers are soft and are now projected to remain that way for the next several months.

 

Our 2019 Forecast was completed in June in time for budgeting for this year. At that time PackTrack projected that prices would be modestly higher in 2019. Our January Update projected slightly lower containerboard prices by Q2.