Discover how FMCG procurement professionals can tackle packaging price volatility with strategic supplier cost analysis. Learn how tracking packaging prices and understanding supplier costs empowers buyers to secure reliable, cost-effective supply in a rapidly changing market.

In 2025, fluctuating lumber prices and evolving retail trends—from e-commerce surges to shifting seasonal demands—are reshaping the pallet supply chain. Understanding these changes is crucial for ensuring supply chain resilience.

Southern Yellow Pine (SYP) is moving to the beat of its own drum. While lumber markets have historically moved in tandem, recent data shows SYP prices are decoupling from other species like Spruce-Pine-Fir (SPF). In a post-pandemic market, the correlation between SYP and SPF has plummeted from over 80% to nearly zero. This fundamental shift underscores the growing need for a dedicated hedging tool for the world's fastest-growing lumber market.

Canada has officially designated select minerals - including graphite, scandium, and rare earths - as national security priorities under the country's Defence Production Act, providing guaranteed buyers for some domestic producers and signalling a move closer to government-backed price floors.

Canadian specialty materials producer Neo Performance Materials officially launched a sintered neodymium iron boron (NdFeB) magnet plant in Narva, Estonia, on Friday September 19, and announced the completion of Europe's first dysprosium and terbium oxide production line.

Mexico will impose tariffs on around 1,400 imported products from countries with which it does not have a trade agreement, according to Mexican government officials, in a move that industry sources say signals alignment with the US but could have “mixed effects” for the steel industry.

China set a higher target for automobile sales in 2025 compared with a year earlier, with the country aiming to keep the upward momentum in 2026, according to a notice published by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) on Friday September 12.

Find out how pallets in the FMCG industry contribute to smooth handling, storage, and transportation of goods.

Nano One, a Canadian process technology company focused on cathode materials for lithium-ion batteries, announced the installation of a proprietary agitator in its 20,000-liter One-Pot reactor based in Candiac, Canada, on August 20.

In the ever-evolving landscape of the US housing market, recent trends reveal a complex interplay between lumber prices, construction activity and broader economic indicators