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Explore our new price assessments for tissue jumbo/parent rolls in North America to understand the key factors and trends shaping the market.
Tissue jumbo/parent roll prices have been largely unchanged in the United States in June and May, as higher domestic supply and steady demand are keeping the market balanced despite mounting cost pressures that could push prices higher later in 2026.
Market participants said that new output from Sofidel’s Circleville, Ohio, facility and Georgia-Pacific’s Wauna, Oregon, mill has increased parent roll availability in recent weeks, softening near-term pricing momentum even as mills continue to run at relatively high operating rates. Meanwhile, offshore paper volumes remained available, but at higher prices due to a surge in ocean freight costs.
“Prices have not increased or decreased this month… but there has been more paper at a better price available in the last 2-3 weeks,” one buyer said to Fastmarkets earlier this week, noting “aggressive offers” from both domestic and offshore producers on virgin rolls. He cited domestic offers $100 per short ton under current market prices and Asian product being offered for about 25% less, FOB, than domestic rolls.
Another buyer said, “We haven’t seen much movement in the parent roll market… no price increase has been implemented for us. The market is a bit loose these days, and we do see a lot of offers in the grades we’re looking for.”
In June, Fastmarkets assessed prices for domestic tissue, wood pulp jumbo rolls for toilet tissue, conventional, 13.5-16.5 g/square meter (8.5-10 lb), fob mill USA at $1,100-1,200 per short ton. Prices for domestic tissue, recycled jumbo rolls for toilet tissue, economic, 14.5-18 g/square meter (9-11 lb), fob mill USA in June were $1,050-1,200 per short ton. Economic jumbo roll prices include both recycled white and brown paper.
Prices for domestic tissue, wood pulp jumbo rolls for toilet tissue, premium, 18-23 g/square meter, (11-14 lb), fob mill USA have been assessed by Fastmarkets in June at $1,250-1,450 per short ton. Those prices include structured and ultra-soft conventional rolls. Finally, Fastmarkets assessed prices for tissue, wood pulp jumbo rolls for toilet tissue, ultra-premium, 21-24.5 g/square meter (13-15 lb), fob mill USA at $1,700-1,900 per short ton in June.
On the towel side, Fastmarkets assessed prices for domestic tissue, wood pulp jumbo rolls for towel, conventional, 16.5-25 g/square meter (10-15 lb), fob mill USA at $1,120-1,220 per short ton and prices for domestic tissue, recycled jumbo rolls for towel, economic, 18-23 g/square meter (11-14 lb), fob mill USA at $1,070-1,220 per short ton.
Prices for tissue, wood pulp jumbo rolls for towel, premium, 18-29.5 g/square meter (11-18 lb), fob mill USA have been assessed at $1,270-1,470 per short ton while prices for tissue, wood pulp jumbo rolls for towel, ultra-premium, 23-32.5 g/square meter (14-20 lb), fob mill USA were at $1,720-1,920 per short ton.
Contacts noted that prices for parent rolls of towel tend to be very close to prices for parent rolls of toilet paper, or a bit higher. “Any operational efficiency producers get to run the towel faster is offset by higher chemical costs in towel production,” a contact said.
Potential increase. Most contacts reported to Fastmarkets that US tissue parent roll prices stabilized during the first quarter of 2026 after declining at the end of 2025 and might increase later in 2026.
The current stability follows price increase attempts in the past two months by local producers including Kimberly-Clark Mexico and BiOrigin as well as overseas suppliers, contacts reported. They noted that most buyers pushed back on the increases, which ranged from $50-100 per ton. One contact cited his prices for offshore paper increased by $20 in June, while another noted a $30 increase on paper coming from Mexico.
“Some jumbo roll suppliers came out with price increases… but the fundamentals for pulp have not changed much… so the tissue prices have not moved up significantly. I’m envisioning price increases on jumbo rolls in the second half of this year if fiber, chemicals and other input costs continue to increase,” a buyer said.
A contact with a trader reported that he has not seen any price movements in the US market in the second quarter. “Prices for domestic paper actually came down in the first quarter of 2026. We’ve seen some movement for imports on the virgin side of bathroom paper — maybe $10 up — expected to be implemented over this and next month, due to [higher] ocean freight and pulp prices,” he said.
Another trader said that Kimberly-Clark Mexico had announced a price increase earlier this quarter, as the company has reduced parent roll shipments to US customers to increase production of finished products at its facilities in Mexico. “They’re now looking at increasing the price in July due to higher transportation costs,” he said.
A contact with a pulp producer said that tissue producers are expecting an increase in parent rolls for the next half, “for sure.” He added, “Hopefully it will materialize.”
Another contact said that “due to the uptick in eucalyptus [pulp] prices, mills are trying to increase tissue parent roll prices for July, especially on the extra-soft conventional grades.”
Fastmarkets reported that US market pulp prices on regular contract business closed May broadly mixed, with a $20 per tonne drop in bleached softwood kraft contrasted with $50 per tonne rises in bleached hardwood kraft.
On the recovered paper side, sorted office paper prices have increased in the US markets in recent months and are currently $30 higher than they were in January and about $10 higher than in May.
US demand. At the end of April, market participants seemed more confident about tissue parent roll demand than they are now. After May and over the first two weeks of June, contacts started to talk about a “surplus of paper,” “higher availability” and “more offers” leading to a “loose market.”
A few contacts noted that the away-from-home segment could see demand improvement, supported by the World Cup and summer vacation in North America. “I heard about converters building inventories ahead of this busy period,” a source said.
A contact with a trader noted, “US demand was very strong until May… but now inflation is hitting everybody. The mills are not full right now.”
“I believe mills will get pushback on higher prices in the US. It will be difficult to push through a price increase during the summer… the away-from-home market is not very strong,” another contact said.
Fastmarkets reported in May that lower consumer confidence could slow demand for tissue products. In addition to a softening in the US economy, a rising unemployment rate and reduced payrolls, costs for gas and diesel are through the roof, the report noted.
“I think prices might go up only in the second half of 2026 due to recovered paper and pulp increases. Imports can ease the pressure on domestic prices due to competition, though,” a market participant said.
Imports. Tissue parent roll imports play a small but important role in the US market, accounting for 5% of the country’s consumption or about 35,000 short tons per month, according to Fastmarkets data. Most volumes come from Canada, Mexico, Indonesia, Turkey, Vietnam, Brazil and China. Excluding Canada and Mexico — which are part of the USCMA agreement — US parent roll imports range at 15,000-20,000 tons per month.
US market participants told Fastmarkets that tissue imports have been affected by US tariffs and are now challenged by poorer logistics conditions, especially in the Middle East and Europe due to the war in Iran. The latest trade data available show that the US imported 50,000 short tons of tissue parent rolls from offshore markets in the first quarter of 2026 compared with 76,500 tons in the first quarter of 2025.
Recently, freight costs have emerged as one of the most significant factors shaping pricing dynamics for imported parent rolls. Contacts with overseas producers and traders said that ocean freight rates have surged sharply this year, with costs from Asia to the US reaching as high as $8,000 per container, translating into hundreds of dollars per tonne in additional costs.
“Prices for containers are now three times higher than before the war, and there’s limited availability,” an overseas supplier said.
Contacts mentioned that one container usually carries 14 metric tonnes (15 short tons) of conventional parent rolls of toilet paper and about 20 metric tonnes (22 short tons) of towel jumbo rolls, which brings the ocean freight cost to more than $500 per tonne for toilet paper and $400 for towel. Sources noted that only about 8-10 tonnes of through-air-dried (TAD) parent rolls can fit in a container, making the freight cost per tonne of TAD rolls even higher and almost prohibitive.
At the same time, imports have remained competitive in some cases because freight contracts are often fixed annually, one contact said.
Fastmarkets learned from overseas parent roll suppliers that FOB prices at their port of origin have not changed much recently, but because of freight costs the CIF, CFR and delivered prices are higher.
Most contacts reported FOB prices for imported, conventional toilet paper parent rolls ranging from $900 to $1,100 per metric tonne ($815-1,000 per short ton), with reports of higher prices for European and Latin American paper. Prices at US East Coast ports, including ocean freight, were reported at about $1,400 per metric tonne ($1,250-1,300 per short ton), depending on the country of origin and contract terms. Added to that are tariffs and customs rates.
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