Arandell Corporation

Blake Hutchison, Director of Purchasing

The North American paper manufactures are at it again.  Recently, a new wave of price increases have been announced. Here is what we are seeing from the likes of Verso Paper, NewPage, Sappi, AbitibiBowater, West Linn, etc:

Coated freesheet (CFS):  4 – 5% increase
Coated groundwood (CGW):  5.5 – 7% increase

Some grades, such as supercalendared (SC) will see increases as high as seven to 10%. Most of these announcements take effect with shipments on or after September 15, 2010. All brand extensions, basis weights and finishes are included in these announcements.

These latest increases come at a time where operating rates on CGW products are still very high and lead times are still six weeks for some products. Operating rates for CFS products at some mills are still high, although we are beginning to see a slowing of demand as the busy season for paper making begins to come to an end.

You may have also heard that some mills recently announced dramatically low second quarter earnings. Coincidence? I think not. The North American mills are still hurting from the loss of the Black Liquor tax credit and they are looking to make up that loss with high prices.

If you have questions about how your paper pricing will be affected by these increases, please feel free to contact me at 800-558-8724.

Blake Hutchison, Director of Purchasing

We have been bombarded the past few days with price increase announcements from our North American mill partners. 

Below is a listing of which mills have announced, how much they are initially going to increase their prices, and when they will take effect:

 Sappi:

• Coated freesheet (CFS) web products (all finishes)
  • 55# and up – $1.00/cwt
  • 50# and below – $3.00/cwt
• Effective immediately on new and unconfirmed orders

 West Linn:

• CFS products (all finishes)
  • $2.00/cwt
• Effective with all orders placed on or after May 21^st and on any existing orders shipping on or after June 1^st

 Appleton Coated:

• CFS products (all finishes)
  1. $2.00/cwt
• Effective with orders shipping on or after June 1^st

 Verso Paper:

• CFS products (all finishes)
  • $2.00/cwt
• Coated Groundwood (CGW) products (all finishes)
  • $3.00/cwt
• Effective with new orders entered and all existing orders shipping on or after June 1^st

 NewPage:

• CFS products (all finishes)
  • $2.00/cwt
• CGW products (all finishes)
  • $3.00/cwt
• Effective with new orders entered and all existing orders shipping on or after June 1^st

 Evergreen:

• CGW products (all finishes)
  • $3.00/cwt
• Effective with new orders entered and all existing orders shipping on or after June 1^st

 AbitibiBowater:

• CGW products (all finishes)
  • $3.00/cwt
• Effective with new orders entered and all existing orders shipping on or after June 1^st

 Kruger:

• CGW products (all finishes)
  • $3.00/cwt
• Effective with new orders entered and all existing orders shipping on or after June 1^st

 UPM:

• CGW products (all finishes)
  • $3.00/cwt
• Effective with new orders entered and all existing orders shipping on or after June 1^st

 FutureMark:

• CGW products (all finishes)
  • $3.00/cwt
• Effective with new orders entered and all existing orders shipping on or after June 1^st

 Catalyst

• CGW products (all finishes)
  • $3.00/cwt
• Effective with new orders entered and all existing orders shipping on or after June 1^st 

In discussing these increases with our mill partners, one theme has been constant: they are raising prices to curb the continued pricing depression as well as alleviate pressures from rising input costs.  Pulp prices have been rising, and there is no more money coming in from the Black Liquor tax credit.  We will continue to be diligent and do everything we can to mitigate these increases as much as possible.

Lead times for both CFS and CGW grades are creeping out. CFS is out anywhere from three to five weeks, and some CGW grades are already out six weeks. I would encourage each and every one of our clients to get your paper orders in as quickly as possible to ensure availability. 

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to email me or call me at 800-558-8724

Thank you.

I’ll try to keep this short and sweet. The idea of full lifecycle analysis of print and paper versus digital and electronic communication seems to be gaining steam.  The result: print and paper might not be as bad as advertised and perhaps we should be focusing more of our attention on the digital and electronic media.

Blake Hutchison, Director of Purchasing

In honor of Earth Day, I thought it might be a good time for a follow-up on my previous posts about the sustainability battle between electronic and printed media.

Let me be clear: I am not advocating the elimination of digital media.  On the contrary, I am a big supporter of it.  What I am not a fan of is the false notion that paper and print are more harmful to the environment than digital.  If you really dig deep and think of the total lifecycle of a product, you can clearly see how that particular product, from cradle to grave (or cradle to cradle) has the ability to impact the environment.

I recently came across a couple of articles that correspond directly with what I am trying to achieve through this dialogue; one from the New York Times and one from PBS. In addition, this post from the Dead Tree Edition blog discusses what one publication did to fully understand what its environmental footprint really is.

Point is, let’s really think about these matters in a way that encompasses everything.

I look forward to hearing your feedback on this post. Feel free to contact me any time!