September 2022 has arrived with the usual back to school flurry of activity. Which brings us to the question, what is happening to paper over the next few months?
Good question. It’s been a turbulent year with prices increasing dramatically and shortages of paper for a number of reasons. Whilst we see some improvements to this now, it won’t be plain sailing for a few months yet.
Firstly, as we’re all painfully aware, energy prices have gone through the roof. Paper requires a lot of energy along the journey from forestry to finishing. Recycled paper uses even more energy than paper from virgin fibres so all mills are having to increase prices as their costs soar. Similary, costs of fuel are having a direct impact on the cost of transporting the raw materials and finished paper.
Secondly a number of strikes in various industries including shipping ports, have caused delays in getting stock from the mill to our warehouse.
Lastly there as there is no paper or pulp coming from Russia this means other mills are under pressure to produce more which has increased their lead times.
So whilst prices and supply has stabilised to some extent, we expect that prices will rise again soon, and their may be continued disruption in supply although probably not to the scale we have experienced this year.
Sep 12, 2022