Paper

With many grades of recovered fiber seeing a modest dip in prices after a strong run up in prices during this spring and summer, signals are mixed over whether there will be an increase in price moving into the fall, or whether prices will start to slide back down.

The sentiment seems to be mixed, although most vendors feel that even with the modest dip in OCC prices in many regions, prices are still at the high end of a "fair market" price.

According to several vendors, OCC prices moved up far too quickly. There were concerns that with OCC prices moving up by 100 percent or more in less than six months, prices could dive back down quickly if the opportunity presents itself.

Despite uncertainty over short-term prices, most paper stock dealers feel fairly optimistic about the overall strength of the industry.

One result of higher scrap paper prices has been the move by many recycled paperboard producers to announce price hikes for their finished products.

The sentiment appears to be that the hikes will likely hold, indicating that the increase in recovered fiber prices, especially OCC, may also hold up fairly well.