Packaging Corporation of America, Graphic Packaging International, International Paper and Smurfit Westrock were among the major companies that talked price increases and acute impacts from tariff and fuel costs following Q3.
Fiber material and product themes that came up during other earnings calls included business and leadership changes, volume and utilization trends, and more:
Additional fiber-related earnings news
Cascades
In packaging, Cascades called out $4 million in Q3 impacts from tariffs on corrugated boxes, molded pulp, plastic products and certain URB grades. The Canadian company’s executives also noted that the Trump administration updated tariff categories in late October, making corrugated boxes, plastic and molded pulp packaging products no longer subject to tariffs. This is “significantly reducing the expected financial impact on our results,” said CEO Hugues Simon on the company’s Nov. 6 earnings call.
Cascades’ North American box shipments were up 5.3% year over year.
OCC prices continued to rise. The company reported that raw material index prices for recycled fiber were up, increasing 12% sequentially and 15% year over year for white grades, and by 19% and 29% for brown.
“As we approach 2027, despite ongoing inflationary pressures, market conditions in both packaging and tissue are evolving favorably, and recent price initiatives are expected to provide additional benefits next year as their full impact will be reflected in our results,” Simon said.
Cascades also announced that CFO Allan Hogg, who has spent the last 16 years in the role and 36 years at the company, will retire in the second half of 2027, kicking off a process to find a successor.
Sappi North America
South African packaging and paper company Sappi reported record-high volumes in its North American packaging and specialty papers segment during its fiscal fourth quarter, in part crediting commercial ramp-up of the No. 2 paper machine at the Somerset Mill in Maine. Paperboard sales volumes were up 48% year over year, but profitability disappointed amid pricing pressure and cost inflation.
Sappi said its primary focus during the quarter was on announced price increases, which it expects to be realized in the coming quarters. The company cited a $60 per ton increase in the market price of solid bleached sulfate during the quarter, with market price for SBS paperboard also rising $60/ton during the period.
Sentiment is improving in the North American SBS market, Sappi reported.
The company has multiple outages planned at both the Somerset and Cloquet mills through its fiscal third quarter.
Greif
In Greif’s fiscal fourth quarter, fiber mill operating rates were approximately 95%. Greif reported that sales increased thanks to flow-through of April’s $60 per ton price increase for uncoated recycled paperboard, but gross profit was down due to delayed recognition of its June price increase.
Fiber volumes were up 1.3%, benefiting from “steady converting demand,” said CEO Ole Rosgaard on the company’s Nov. 4 earnings call. That bucks the trend seen for the company’s other main substrates, polymers and metals, which experienced volume losses as the industrial sector continues to be challenged. Greif expects its fiber volumes to be flat in fiscal year 2027.
International updates
- Mondi CEO Andrew King said on the company’s Oct. 15 earnings call that in sack kraft, “in an almost unprecedented way, we’re onto our third price increase for the year.” This is against a backdrop of higher input costs and “new sources of demand there that is tightening things up.” King said the price increases are “really a 2027 story at this stage because it's too late to materially impact ‘26.” The pass-through of costs on bags is also slightly delayed due to the semiannual nature of some contracts.
- Elopak’s new CEO, Håkon Volldal, took the helm Nov. 2. The Norwegian carton maker reported that Americas revenues increased 5.9% in Q3, “despite growth being constrained by the board supply disruption following the Nippon Dynawave incident,” the company said. “Insurance recoveries recognized in the quarter partly compensated for the additional costs, with further recoveries expected.”
- Sylvamo, the Tennessee-based specialty papers maker, announced Nov. 6 it’s selling its Europe business to a private equity group. The deal includes mills in France and Sweden.
