Price adjustment – 10% on all cardboard tubes and paper cores, effective for deliveries from 1 October 2026

3rd September 2026

Dear Customers,

I am writing to give you as much notice as possible that Just Paper Tubes will be applying a price increase of 10% across our range of cardboard tubes and paper cores. The increase will apply to all deliveries made on or after Wednesday 1 October 2026.

This is not a decision we have taken lightly, and I want to be open with you about why it has become necessary.

What has changed

In our market updates of 21 and 27 August, we set out our view that the balance of risk in European coreboard pricing had moved firmly upwards. Since then, that view has been borne out by our suppliers' own announcements.

Over the past fortnight, three of Europe's principal coreboard producers have confirmed further increases: Sonoco has announced €60 per tonne on uncoated recycled paperboard for shipments from 15 September; A. Merati has announced €90 per tonne on all coreboard grades; Preston Board announced £60 per tonne from 21 September. These come on top of the substantial coreboard increases already absorbed during the spring and summer.

The common thread in each of these announcements is energy. European gas has risen by roughly 40% since April since our last price adjustment. UK gas storage is reportedly around 30% full going into winter, against more than 90% in each of the two previous years.

Diesel and transport costs remain tight and crude oil continues to reach nearly $100 per barrel.

Because coreboard is an energy-intensive product – recovered paper has to be collected, transported, repulped, pressed and dried before it reaches us – these costs work their way through the entire supply chain.

The 10% adjustment reflects the cost impact of the coreboard increases now confirmed by our suppliers. We have not included the additional pressures we continue to face from our own energy, labour and transport costs.

Our investment in onsite solar generation and battery storage, together with our efficient factory-direct operating model, has helped us contain some of the cost pressures arising within our own operations. However, there are limits to what we can control. Geopolitical events, wholesale energy markets and the resulting impact on coreboard production sit largely outside our influence, and it is these external pressures that are now feeding through into the prices charged by our suppliers.

Continuity of supply

We want to be clear that this is a price matter, not a supply matter. Our relationships with our mills are strong, and we remain confident in our ability to meet your forecast requirements throughout the autumn and winter.

What happens next

Our sales team will be in touch with updated pricing for your specific products ahead of 1 October. If you are planning stock ahead of the change, or if there is anything in this letter you would like to discuss, please contact us on 01757 630226 or at sales@jptcores.com.

I am also happy to talk through the market background directly with any customer who would find that useful, and our news page at www.jptcores.com/jpt-news carries our regular market commentary.

We continue to monitor energy, recovered paper, coreboard and logistics markets closely, and we will give you the earliest possible visibility of any further change – in either direction.

Thank you for your continued support of Just Paper Tubes.

Yours faithfully,

Harry Coates

Managing Director

Just Paper Tubes ltd.