Carton Price Hikes Spread as Single Increases Reach 10%, Secondary Converters Issue Notices

Raw material costs keep climbing, and the pressure has now travelled all the way to the carton end of the paper packaging chain. Wuxi Hongxintai Packaging Materials Co., Ltd. has issued a price increase notice announcing that, on instruction from its mill, all of its products will be priced 10% higher from October 1.

Fujian tells a similar story. Quanzhou Tianchen Paper Packaging Co., Ltd. pushed its carton prices up by as much as 10% in a single move. In its notice, the company explained that carton manufacturers are traditional processing businesses whose earnings come entirely from thin converting fees, leaving the company unable to absorb the steadily rising raw material costs.

Over the past half month, power rationing and production limits have been the key driver: paper mills in many parts of the country have idled machines and cut output while adjusting prices repeatedly, sending base paper prices higher step by step. Paperboard plants, highly sensitive to market shifts, responded quickly and passed the cost pressure downstream without delay — a few even raised prices three times in the space of roughly ten days.

As base paper and paperboard became more expensive, carton quotes followed. The adjustments are not confined to tertiary converters: secondary plants are also lifting carton prices one after another, among them Quanzhou Tianchen Paper Packaging Co., Ltd. mentioned above, as well as Liuyang Jinxin Packaging Co., Ltd. and Gao'an Dehe Industrial Co., Ltd.

Selected secondary plants that have announced carton price increases: Liuyang Jinxin Packaging Co., Ltd. — from 17:30 on October 5, two-, three-, four- and five-layer paperboard and cartons move up 4 points on the existing discount; Gao'an Dehe Industrial Co., Ltd. — from 18:00 on October 6, all paperboard and cartons rise by a uniform 5% over currently executed prices; Ningbo Liuhe Packaging Co., Ltd. / Ningbo Rihe New Materials Co., Ltd. — from 18:00 on October 5, three-layer board is up 0.10 yuan per double square, four- and five-layer board up 0.20 yuan per double square, and seven-layer board up 0.30 yuan per double square, with prices of related processed cartons adjusted accordingly. Reprinted from China Packaging Network (pack.cn); original link: http://news.pack.cn/show-378383.html