Price Increases (CONT’D FROM PAGE 3)
independent converters in North America. While we rec- ognize the need for all our suppliers to operate profitably, it should not be at the expense and long-term health and viability of another distinct market player, the indepen- dent sector. These announced increases came without the normal justifications relating to input costs or market dynamics and thus they are unjustified at this time. AICC, INSCO Offer Specialty Training At Corrugated Week AICC, in partnership with INSCO, has announced a spe- cialized training program to be offered during Corrugated Week 2026: Corrugator Defects: How Sheet Quality Im- pacts Converting Performance. Held Wednesday, September 30th, the program will examine the relationship between corrugator sheet quali- ty and downstream converting operations. Instruction will be led by Freerk van der Laan, an in- ternational corrugating process specialist and consultant with more than 38 years of experience in process opti- mization, including over 30 years dedicated to the paper and board industry. This program is ideal for corrugator operators and su- pervisors, converting supervisors, production managers, plant managers, and quality managers and technicians. Register for the course at corrugatedweek.org .
eraging around $750/ton in July (+/- depending on grade). The two earlier in the year announced $50/ton price in- creases (March 1/June 1) are not yet fully absorbed into the marketplace, as stated by the suppliers themselves, and confirmed by many converters. None of the three increases appear to be related to box demand which is at 2016 levels. OCC pricing (for recycled boxes) has hardly moved at all and certainly in no way in lock step with the magnitude of these three price increas- es. RISI and Bloomberg, the two published indexes in the marketplace have not agreed, been in parallel, or even close to each other all year. With the latest increase, paper would be up 45 percent compared to Q1 of 2024. Demand has plummeted since Covid. Conclusion History has shown that producers announce large in- creases with the hopes of ultimately obtaining a meaning- ful, but lesser rise in the transacted prices. In essence, they are testing the resolve of the market. The first two prior increases were not warranted, as ex- plained above, by demand but “stuck”. This leads to the reasonable conclusion that these prior price increases mathematically preemptively anticipated subsequent de- mand increase. Thus, the most recent increase is not justi- fied by traditional supply and demand metrics. AICC members constitute a majority of privately held
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8 August 17, 2026
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