April 27, 2020 Board Converting News

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

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April 27, 2020

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