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News
East Coast Faces Tough Conditions
July 26, 2008 By: Curt Harler Official Board MarketsThe box market along the Eastern seaboard this summer is like a day at the beach. Not sunny and bright. Rather, it is fraught with perilous currents that threaten to sweep businesses out to sea and drag down those who are not both careful and strong. In fact, the answer to surviving in the containerboard packaging market today may be similar to surviving a rip current: go with the flow until it allows you to escape its grasp and get back to normalcy.
Despite the headlines, however, there are some strong swimmers who are staying ahead of the current tide.
Some box plants have managed to pull together a decent first half. Pete Tisi, sales manager at Impress Packaging, Emmaus, Pa., says the company is up about 3 percent this year, both on volume and on profits. Given the situation, that’s an enviable record. However, he says that he sees tough times ahead.
“The volume is not there,” says Larry Grossbard, vice president of President Container, Inc., Moonachie, N.J. He notes box shipments are down across the map and says the softening economy in the Northeast will not help matters at all for local firms.
He feels the Northeast is unique in the volume of manufacturing leaving the area. “It’s not only this alleged recession, but the number of jobs that are leaving the Northeast that hurt us,” he adds.
Another eastern Pennsylvania sheet plant reports revenue “up a bit” but strong pressure on margins. “It is not all due to the price increase we saw at the end of 2007,” the company president says. “We’re working to control costs, to save operating dollars.”
Going Sideways--In Maryland, Maury Lerner, vice president at ABC Box, Baltimore, reports business is sideways. “But costs are up,” he says. “And trucking hurts.”
Tisi credits his company’s success to taking an aggressive stance in the market. That plan included adding another salesperson to the staff. And it paid off.
A second positive for Impress is its market mix – a varied range of products from candy to books to hard goods. “That broad base is helping even out the ups and downs,” Tisi says.
“We’re up – fairly large,” says George Bouyea, general manager at Lakeside Container Corp., Plattsburgh, N.Y. Its growth the first six months is in the double digits. “We built a new plant four or five years ago,” Bouyea says. “We have to be up.”
