According to Securities Daily, several prominent domestic pulp and paper enterprises in China have recently issued product price adjustment notices. The adjustments cover multiple paper grades including white cardstock, coated paper, food-grade paper, recycled kraft paper, and high-strength corrugated paper, with price increases ranging from RMB50 to 200 per ton. The implementation period is primarily concentrated between late November and December 1, 2025.

Notably, after enduring a five-year slump, the white cardboard industry has begun to rebound from its trough. As of November 21, the market price for white cardboard stood at RMB4,214 per ton, marking a 2.48% increase from late October and a 7.23% rise from the year's low of RMB 3,930 per ton recorded in mid-to-late August.

Since October and into November, the white cardstock market has seen strong upward momentum with sustained price increases. Leading white cardstock producers preemptively announced a 200 RMB/ton price hike for November at the end of October, warming up the market, and traders have actively followed suit.

Overall, this new round of price increases is driven not only by paper mills' proactive hikes but also by multiple factors including cost support, inventory drawdowns, delayed new capacity launches, and the overall recovery of the packaging paper industry.

From the cost perspective, limited available supplies in the imported wood pulp market, coupled with simultaneous price increases for domestic pulp and international spot prices, suggest further upside potential. Against this backdrop, paper mills continue to push prices upward to improve profitability.

Additionally, the industry's recent self-disciplined adjustments against internal competition have brought positive changes to the supply side. Industry sources indicate that the planned October launch of 1.2 million tons of new white cardstock capacity has been delayed. Currently, only limited B-grade products are being released, with the official production start date yet to be confirmed. Kong Xiangfen noted that the slower pace of new capacity deployment has eased market concerns about oversupply, further bolstering paper mills' confidence in raising prices. Combined with the sustained decline in corporate inventories since September, this provides solid support for the price hike.

Data reveals that since 2025, China's white cardstock supply-demand gap has narrowed significantly from 308.97 thousand tons in January to 255.68 thousand tons in September. Concurrently, white cardstock inventories have begun declining after prolonged high levels, demonstrating effective destocking.

On November 21, the gross profit margin for white cardstock stood at -5.02%. Even paper mills with in-house pulp production lines can only maintain marginal profitability at present. Consequently, companies have a strong desire to improve their profit margins. With leading paper manufacturers announcing price hikes for white cardstock, the industry may finally see the long-awaited profit recovery.

The upward resonance between policy and demand has given white cardstock enterprises hope for profit recovery. Entering the industry's peak season in the fourth quarter, especially since November, domestic packaging paper prices have risen across the board. This is directly linked to the release of orders ahead of the New Year and Spring Festival holidays, along with expectations of overall market demand improvement. Coupled with the sustained upward pressure on prices across various paper grades, downstream restocking has accelerated.

The white cardboard industry exhibits high concentration, granting leading companies significant pricing power. While past factors like capacity expansion and supply-demand imbalances may have caused short-term profitability declines or even losses for top players, scaling up operations allows firms to spread fixed costs, enhance production efficiency, and ultimately improve profitability. This positioning also positions them to capture greater gains when the market rebounds.

As an integrated internet platform providing benchmark prices, on December 1st, the benchmark price of white cardboard from SunSirs was 4353.33 RMB/ton, an increase of 0.77% compared to the beginning of the previous month (4320.00 RMB/ton).

Application of SunSirs Benchmark Pricing：

Traders can price spot and contract transactions based on the pricing principle of agreed markup and pricing formula (Transaction price=SunSirs price + Markup).

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