The corrugated and paper waste markets have been difficult to predict in the last 90 days, due to ongoing fundamental stresses at paper mills and along the supply chain. This has caused prices of OCC to nosedive by $90 a ton or 70 percent, according to Fastmarket’s October Pulp & Paper Report. Mid America Paper Recycling is closely monitoring the market situation and changing economic trends, and has issued a State of the Commodities Market Report on its website.
Mid America Paper Recycling CEO Don Gaines, said the industry experienced a fairly strong economy prior to the pandemic. “But now, everything is different. As prices began rising on consumer goods, including food, vehicles, and general merchandise, as well as construction, energy, utilities and transportation, prices for OCC quickly declined.”
“It’s a challenging market, to say the least,” adds Mid America Paper Recycling President Paul Pirkle, who says the company is helping its supplier-partners and recycling customers respond to these challenges. “Our support for them will never falter. We haven’t experienced these compounded market pressures before, but we are sensitive to the effect of the downturn. We are gearing up to be ready when the market conditions change and demand climbs. And they will change.”
Read the report here.
TAPPI
http://www.tappi.org/