DUBLIN, May 1 (Reuters) - U.S. order books at the

world's largest cardboard box maker Smurfit Westrock ( SW ) are

steadying after "a lot of weakness" in March and early April

amid falling consumer confidence, chief executive Tony Smurfit

said on Thursday.

Smurfit said the Ireland-headquartered company was "seeing a

lot of nervousness" among its customers that span the household

goods, food and pharmaceutical sectors in relation to tariffs

but that it had not yet translated into "any material issue".

He made the comments after the packaging giant reported

first quarter core profit of $1.25 billion, in line with its

guidance, and forecast a 6% to 11% rise in full year earnings to

between $5.0 billion and $5.2 billion.

"We did see a lot of weakness in March and the first two

weeks of April. It seems to be steadying itself, our order books

are getting better in the second half of April than they were in

the six weeks prior to that. That gives us some encouragement,"

Smurfit told an analyst call when asked about the U.S. market.

Smurfit Westrock ( SW ) expected some recovery in the second half

of the year but not the kind of bounceback some competitors were

talking about that would require a level of consumer confidence

that is not currently seen in surveys, he added.

Smurfit said the European market was a bit better and that

while demand may not be strong, it is "reasonable" and on an

improving trend.

Smurfit Westrock's ( SW ) UK-listed shares were 2.4% lower at 1230

GMT.

While it largely sells to customers within each of the 40

countries in which it operates, Smurfit said it has adjusted its

U.S./Canada supply chains in response to tariffs to cut out the

previous large amount of cross border trade.