Fastmarkets launches North American Corrugated Cost Benchmark to track box manufacturing pressures
Fastmarkets has launched the Corrugated Cost Benchmark for North America to track changes in the principal costs of manufacturing and delivering boxes.
A new tool for market transparency
Fastmarkets has officially launched the Corrugated Cost Benchmark (CCB) for North America, effective October 19, 2026. This calculated index is designed to measure changes in the principal costs associated with manufacturing and delivering corrugated boxes across the region. The introduction of the CCB responds to a growing market demand for a robust, consistent, and transparent measure of the underlying cost pressures facing box manufacturers.
The benchmark integrates Fastmarkets' proprietary virgin and recycled fiber price data with third-party economic and cost indicators. The modeled industry-average cost basket covers a comprehensive range of inputs, including labor, energy, chemicals, maintenance, transportation, and other manufacturing costs. In the calculation, manufacturing wages carry the heaviest weight at 26%, followed by repair, maintenance, and other manufacturing costs at 14%, and old corrugated containers (OCC) at 10%.
Tracking cost evolution, not absolute prices
It is important to note that the CCB does not represent the absolute cost or market price of a corrugated box. Instead, it measures the evolution of these input values over time. The index uses January 2019 as a baseline of 100 points, against which all subsequent changes are measured. This approach allows industry stakeholders to track how inflation, supply chain disruptions, and fluctuating raw material costs impact the overall expense of producing packaging.
The launch of this index is considered a major development for the packaging sector. Over recent years, the industry has seen numerous price increase announcements driven largely by cost inflation rather than traditional supply-demand fundamentals. By providing a structured and transparent benchmark, Fastmarkets aims to help procurement teams, finance departments, and boxmakers better understand and navigate the complex cost dynamics of the North American corrugated market.
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