COVID-19 Impacting Supply Chain, But Corrugated Market Is Booming According to a report in waste360, COVID-19 has driven extraordinary circumstances rarely or never seen, impact- ing the supply chain, resulting in a state of constant flux in the paper industry. Demand for recovered paper is red hot to cold, depend- ing on end markets. China, which drastically cut imports a couple years ago, has now stepped up purchases, and its paper mills are asking U.S. and other overseas suppliers for more material. Meanwhile, some recyclers who were selling tissue and toweling to away-from-home customers that have shut down are hustling to shift to stay-at-home markets, where products are flying off the shelves. Corrugated in particular is seeing a boon. Some mills can’t get enough of this material, and as they fight for mar- ket share, they are paying higher premiums or paying pre- miums for the first time. “Corrugated was staggering at $35 per ton in the Mid- west for months and went up in March mainly because the export market got strong in Asia. I expect prices will con- tinue to rise in April due to diminishing supply and increas- ing domestic demand,” says Leonard Zeid, Executive Vice President of Marketing and Brokerage for Midland Davis Corporation, a scrap paper, metal and plastic brokerage with a processing plant in Moline, Illinois.
Box Shipments ( U.S. Corrugated Product Shipments) Industry Shipments In Billions of Square Feet Month March 2020
Year
Actual
Percent Change Avg Week Percent Change
2020 2019
34.739 31.870
9.0
7.895 7.588
4.0
Industry Total
Year-to Date
March 2020
Year
Actual
Percent Change Avg Week Percent Change
2020 2019
98.981 94.892
4.3
7.733 7.531
2.7
Industry Total
Containerboard Consumption (Thousands of Tons)
Year
Month
Percent Change Year-to-Date Percent Change
2020 2019
2.8653 2.5967
10.3
8.1983 7.8036
5.1
Container Board Inventory - Corrugator Plants (Thousands of Tons)
Corrugator Plants Only
Date
Percent Change Weeks of Supply
Percent Change
Mar. Feb.
2.1278 2.2978
-7.4
3.3 3.7
-10.8
Shipping Days
Year
Month
Year-to-Date
2020 2019
22 21
64 63
SOURCE: Fibre Box Association
Puhl custom designs systems to meet your needs. • Moving to a new facility? Puhl has experience moving entire plant systems all while minimizing down time in BOTH plants during the transition. • Below roof AND above roof systems custom designed to meet your needs. • New and Remanufactured Equipment (balers, blowers, separators, filters and more). Our Remanufactured equipment includes a warranty and offers significant savings. • NFPA and OSHA compliant systems designed by our NFPA trained engineering team. • Dust Briquetters, Certified Explosion Isolation Valves, Flame Front Diverters and more to control dust and meet NFPA requirements. • PLC Touch Screen Controls with Real Time Pressure Balancing and Real Time Remote Monitoring available on your smart phone or computer.
Balers • Shredders • Trim Collection Systems • Dust Collection Systems • Cyclones Trim Separators • Spiral Duct • Used Equipment • Filters • Briquetters 240 Airport Road | Gallatin, TN 37066 | 615.230.9500 | FAX 615.230.9590 | sales@gfpuhl.com | www.gfpuhl.com Follow us on LinkedIn
8
www.boardconvertingnews.com
April 27, 2020
Made with FlippingBook Online newsletter