Apprehensive Optimism

Reiber's worries are substantiated by the PPC's annual "Trends: Industry Outlook and Market Data Report" for 2004, which was released in August. In the report, Resource Information Systems Inc. (RISI)—a forecasting arm of Paperloop that prepared the outlook and forecast sections of the report—projected rising boxboard costs. RISI forecast real prices for bleached folding boxboard to rise 5 percent in 2005 from their 2002 average. In addition, real prices for unbleached board were projected to increase more than 8 percent during the same time frame. The report also predicted these rising costs would force converters to increase the price of their folding cartons.