RISI is planning to discontinue price coverage for heavyweight 70-lb Unbleached Grocery Bag paper in the US market in the March 2017 Price Watch because of industry consolidation, limited reader interest, and similarity of this grade to 42-lb Unbleached Kraft Linerboard.
In a survey earlier this year, RISI found more reader interest in continued price coverage of 30-lb Unbleached Grocery Bag and 30-lb Bleached Grocery Bag, particularly among specialty converters. RISI is still assessing the feasibility of continued coverage of these lightweight grades and the possible launch of a new price series for 30-lb Unbleached Kraft Specialty Paper and 30-lb Bleached Kraft Specialty Paper to replace them in 2017. The new series names would attempt to recognize the broader use of these grades in specialty packaging end uses outside of traditional commodity bag converting.
RISI seeks stakeholder feedback about proposed change by December 16, 2016. Please contact Will Mies at wmies@risi.com to provide your feedback about the proposed change.
