Prices for containerboard, the material that is folded into shipping boxes, declined for the second straight month, according to Fastmarkets RISI’s PPI Pulp & Paper Week, a trade publication that sets benchmarks by surveying buyers and sellers. Prices dropped $20 a ton, or about 2.2%, in December. It was the same decline as in November, which was the first time containerboard had gotten cheaper since the summer of 2019. Containerboard prices soared to records during the pandemic e-commerce explosion, but lately easing demand, ample inventories and new production capacity have forced big box makers, such as International Paper, to curtail output in hopes of balancing the market. [END]