International Paper announced an $80 per ton increase on containerboard prices to take effect Sept. 1, according to a Tuesday memo to investors from Michael Roxland, Truist Securities senior paper and packaging analyst, citing containerboard industry contacts and Fastmarkets RISI.
This follows Packaging Corporation of America’s Friday announcement of a $140 per ton price hike for containerboard. That amount is double the typical increases, and industry observers widely have called it unprecendented. The announcement kicked off containerboard producers’ third wave of price increases in 2026 so far.
Analysts had expected other producers to follow with their own increases, although perhaps not to the same level as PCA’s. Fastmarkets RISI says a third major producer also has announced a containerboard price increase, but those details aren’t confirmed, Roxland said, noting he still expects other producers to follow suit in the coming weeks.
Analysts believe that similar to PCA’s, IP’s increase is driven by rising costs for inputs including recycled fiber, freight and electricity. Other factors include improving demand and tight supply following announced facility closures in 2025 totaling nearly 10% of the North American industry’s production capacity.
IP has also announced closures this year, most recently disclosing on July 16 that it plans to shut a box plant in Carrollton, Texas. Days earlier, the company announced that it would temporarily idle its containerboard mill in Pine Hill, Alabama, due to roof damage from storms. In February, IP announced it would close a Georgetown, South Carolina, container plant, and in January, the company filed a notice with the state of Washington about closing a facility in Union Gap.
Several North American and European boxboard producers also are raising prices on some grades, specifically solid bleached sulfate and folding boxboard, Roxland said in a separate note, citing Fastmarkets RISI.
Smurfit Westrock told customers on July 7 that it would raise prices by 4% to 6% on SBS folding carton, commercial print and foodservice grades as of Aug. 10. Sappi’s July 20 announcement was similar, noting a 4% to 6% increase on all boxboard grades as of Aug. 20. Manchester Industries, a converter owned by Clearwater Paper, announced a 5% increase on SBS and FBB products, effective Aug. 24. And Finnish company Metsä Board announced a 4% to 6% increase on fresh-fiber FBB and barrier products in the Americas, effective Sept. 1, Roxland relayed.
SBS remains in oversupply and producers have taken actions in recent months to rationalize production capacity. In April, Clearwater Paper announced that it’s restructuring an SBS mill in Cypress Bend, Arkansas, and will halve production there while reducing employee count by about 20%. In February, Smurfit Westrock announced that it would permanently close down one of the machines at its SBS mill in La Tuque, Quebec.
