Recovered paper's perfect storm-Could it happen again?

摘要

In the recovered paper business, we frequently refer to the 1994-1995 bull market as the Mount Everest of prices. Never in the history of recovered paper have prices reached the levels seen in mid-1995. Since old corrugated cardboard (OCC) is the largest grade making up about half of all supplies, that is what we will focus on; however, it is also the bell weather grade - as go OCC prices, ONP and office grades will surely follow. Looking at Figure 1, the 1995 total year U.S. average freight-on-board price was $142 per ton. Since the market in 1995 began a rapid fall in the second half of the year, spot prices for OCC in the second quarter reached over $200 per ton.