Box Demand Remains Weak, and While Glimmer of Hope Emerges about Pricing Gains, 2010 Will be a Tough Year

摘要

Key economic benchmarks including industrial production and GDP and market indicators such as operating rates, box cut ups and paperboard shipments should post modest gains in 2010 over historically depressed 2009 levels. These gains combined with massive capacity reductions will lead to some improvement this year possibly including modest gains in box and board prices. However, with underlying demand remaining very weak and showing little sign of a significant recovery this year, any gains are likely to be marginal and the market for containerboard challenging.