Major retail customers for North American publication papers,especially supercalendered(SC)grades,were wrong-footed by this month's capacity cuts,and the volley of price hike announcements that followed on coated and SC papers,contacts said last week.Sources said many buyers of SC paper for North American newspaper inserts,catalogs,and magazines had delayed signing off on new price agreements because they thought prices would move lower.But by late Friday,at least six of the largest SC suppliers,which combined account for more than 75% of North American production capacity,had instead announced price increases of 60/ton(3/cwt)- or in one case a 7% hike - effective on new orders and with July shipments.
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