Sonoco will increase prices for all uncoated recycled paperboard grades in the United States and Canada by $50 per ton effective with shipments on February 1, 2010. In addition, the Company announced that it will increase prices on all paperboard industrial converted products in the U.S. and Canada by 4.5 percent effective with shipments on February 15, 2010.
"The recent nearly 40-percent increase in the cost of recovered paper, our primary raw material, is unprecedented and a clear reflection of increased demand by recycled mills in the U.S. and Canada and by Asian export markets," said Harris DeLoach, chairman, president and chief executive officer.
Prices announced recently for Old Corrugated Containers (OCC) in the Southeast U.S. increased in January from $80 per ton to $110 per ton. Sonoco is one of the largest producers of uncoated recycled paperboard in North America and of paperboard tubes and cores and protective packaging.