Dive Brief:
- For the second consecutive month, a leading index reported an increase in North American containerboard pricing.
- Month-over-month containerboard prices rose $30 per ton in April, following March’s $40 per ton increase, according to monthly data released Friday in Fastmarkets RISI’s Pulp & Paper Week publication.
- When also taking into consideration the $20 per ton decrease the index reported in February, containerboard pricing has a year-to-date net increase of $50 per ton.
Dive Insight:
Earlier this year, multiple major producers announced $70 per ton price hikes for containerboard that they intended to execute in March. Yet conditions were dicey to start the year.
Fastmarkets RISI charted a price dip in February, which surprised analysts in light of multiple producers reporting demand improvements early in 2026. Additionally, some industry experts had expected operating rates and other conditions to improve this year following the nearly 10% reduction in North American production capacity announced in 2025.
The March increase was the first hike recognized by this index in 13 months. However, some experts have hesitated in recent weeks to project trends for containerboard prices and demand further into 2026, considering current economic and geopolitical conditions such as the war in Iran and sluggish consumer spending.
“While demand appears to be improving, contacts largely attributed this month’s incremental increase to cost pressures, particularly related to the Iran conflict including chemicals, OCC, fuel, and energy,” Michael Roxland, senior paper and packaging analyst at Truist Securities, said in an April 19 note to investors about the Fastmarkets RISI data release. “Moreover, some contacts anticipate difficulty sustaining current pricing on supply conditions alone if demand does not meaningfully move higher.”
Some contacts that Fastmarkets RISI surveyed this month reported that they experienced various delays in implementation of producers’ announced increases, with certain hikes pushed to June. In addition, the recent data may have been skewed by certain buyers intentionally stocking up on product prior to the price increases taking effect.
On the boxboard front, most prices remained relatively flat in April.
Solid bleached sulfate remains in oversupply, although demand was flat to slightly improved. Earlier this month, Clearwater Paper announced that it’s restructuring its SBS mill in Cypress Bend, Arkansas, and will halve production while reducing employee count by about 20%. That followed Smurfit Westrock’s February announcement that it would permanently close down one of the machines at its SBS mill in La Tuque, Quebec.
Even so, the market would need to see “a more notable demand inflection” to warrant an SBS price increase, Roxland said.
Uncoated recycled paperboard increased by $60 per ton. That marks full or nearly full recognition of the increases that the top URB producers announced in March.
