Discover how data-driven procurement helps private label brands navigate rising costs, outperform national competitors, and maintain a winning shelf presence.

The containerboard market is facing significant turbulence, with recent linerboard price hikes and unexpected market trends creating challenges for buyers and producers alike.

Discover how the food and beverage market is being transformed by global overcapacity in this month's featured data-led insight from the Fastmarkets team

Explore how trends, supply shifts and consolidation are transforming the food and beverage packaging market. Leverage independent data for a clearer packaging market outlook and confident procurement decisions.

The latest GCC containerboard market trends show slight price declines and muted demand across Saudi Arabia and the UAE, with cashflow pressures, rising production costs, and growing local competition shaping January’s performance.

Packaging Corp of America (PCA) is set to raise linerboard and corrugating medium prices by $70 per ton starting March 1, marking the first containerboard price increase in 13 months.

In today's market, effective food and beverage procurement is critical for profitability. However, many procurement teams face challenges due to fragmented data, where packaging and ingredient costs are managed in separate silos. This disconnect creates a massive blind spot, making it difficult to challenge supplier price hikes or accurately model total product costs.

As previously announced, Fastmarkets has discontinued its legacy assessments for bleached and unbleached European sack kraft as of January 22 2026.

Following a market consultation, Fastmarkets launched European average prices for bleached and unbleached sack kraft with effect from January 22 2026 to complement our existing country-specific sack kraft assessments.

US pulp spot markets saw steady movement to start the year, with bleached softwood kraft (BSK) stabilizing and bleached hardwood kraft (BHK) showing improvement. Northern bleached softwood kraft (NBSK) prices held at $700-730 per tonne, unchanged since December, according to Fastmarkets' latest survey.